


Collapsing Couches

by temerarius



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M, Teen Pregnancy, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-24
Updated: 2018-01-19
Packaged: 2019-02-19 12:19:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 12
Words: 24,359
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13123581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/temerarius/pseuds/temerarius
Summary: Seventeen year olds Veronica Lodge and Archie Andrews are facing the biggest challenge they've yet to overcome - Veronica is pregnant.





	1. Chapter 1

While driving to the Pembrooke, the place of residence of Veronica Lodge and her family, Archie Andrews wondered if he’d survive his visit. His father was already there, he supposed, as Archie and Veronica had called an urgent meeting involving Fred, Hiram and Hermione, and Archie wondered if he could turn the car around - leave in his car rather than in a bodybag.

Veronica rested a hand on his knee, glancing at him from the passenger seat. “Archiekins,” she began, her voice soft and so comforting that it made his shoulders drop just a bit, “I can’t comfort you by saying that you might not get beaten by my father, but he won’t kill you. He wouldn’t risk going back to jail.” She paused. “If that’s any comfort.”

He swallowed, his face and body burning with nerves and fright. “Not really. My only comfort, now, is that my dad’ll stop yours from doing anything too risky.”

“Don’t put all your eggs in that basket. My father was the captain of the wrestling team in high school, and he’s still pretty tough.”

“Are you aiming to minimize or enlarge my nerves, Veronica?”

On any other day, Veronica would have taken his snappy tone as a slap in the face, but she understood. She rubbed her hand along his knee, brushing one lock of dark hair from her eyes. They were cruising past the familiar roads that she knew led to her apartment, and the ball of fear growing in her stomach grew larger with every building they passed. She rested her head against her seat, letting out a breath she hadn’t known she’d been holding. “I’m sorry, okay? I’m just as nervous as you are.”

Archie had tried not to vocalize his feelings over the past few days, when they’d been toying with the idea of setting up a meeting between both of their families, because he didn’t think it would happen, until Veronica told him that there was a date set up for them to break the news they’d been hiding for weeks, and suddenly, everything was coming out. “What’s the worst your dad could do?”

“Realistically, kill you.” Veronica’s words weren’t well received and she cowered at the glare her red headed boyfriend gave her. “But I think you’ll be punched. Banned from every entering our home - not that you’re there often, anyway. How will your dad react?”

He shook his head, remembering the conversation he’d had with his dad just a few weeks before this entire mess had happened. Father and son, in a booth at Pop’s, while Fred told Archie about the importance of being safe with Veronica while Archie squirmed and told his dad that safety always came first with them. Which apparently wasn’t true.

Had he lied to his dad?

“I don’t know, Ron. He isn’t the type to punch someone, though who would he punch? Not you. Not me. I think he’d just be - disappointed.” The thought of Fred disappointed in Archie made the redhead’s insides wriggle more than they already were.

Veronica physically felt her heart drop when Archie pulled into a spot across the street from the Pembrooke, and she took a steadying breath before reaching for the door handle.

He stopped her before she opened her car door. “Veronica, this won’t tear us apart, right?”

She turned and looked at him, no glint of playfulness or wit or Truman Capote references in her eyes. “I hope not.” And she reached across the console and kissed him. Soft, but full of passion, and Archie was breatheless by the time she had pulled away and stepped out of the car. When he’d done the same, she had walked around the car and gripped his hand.

“Somehow, I don’t think it’s a good idea to walk into your house to see your dad while holding hands.” Archie glanced at their intertwined hands as he spoke, slowly untangling his fingers from hers.

She chuckled slightly, flipping a curtain of her hair behind her. “After what we’re about to tell him, I think our holding hands will be the least of his worries.”

-

“So what is this about, Ron?” Hiram sipped from a tall wine glass filled with red, thick liquid that he took occasional sips from. “We’ve been here for ten minutes and there shows no indication of there being any real reason for us to be here.”

Veronica squirmed in her seat. The wine her mother had poured for her ('Moscato,' her mother told Fred, who looked concerned at the 17 year old drinking. 'It’s basically just sugar water.') sat untouched on the table before her. Her fingers drummed against her thigh. Archie looked, if anything, more uncomfortable - she could see red heat tinging in his cheeks, and his hair was so messy from how much he’d been running his hands through it. 

“Well, mother - father - Fred - Archie and I have something we need to … tell you.” The Latina began, eyes on her burgundy coloured nails. “And before we say it, daddy, I need to confirm that you won’t send Fred home with his son in a bodybag, alright?”

She could feel Archie tense up next to her, and she paused. Ronnie wouldn’t continue without her father promising, even if she knew he’d break it after the news broke.

“What is this about, Veronica?”

“Promise, daddy.”

Hiram set his glass down, a look of utmost concern present on his face. Beside him, leaning against the arm of the chair, Fred stared at Archie, who sat with a hand pressed against his forehead, shielding his eyes from the parents, and then at Veronica. 

“Fine, I promise. Now tell us wh-”

Archie removed his hand from his forehead and rested it on the arm of the chair, not shedding a look at Veronica before proclaiming, “Veronica’s pregnant.”

Silence.

Veronica brought herself back to the day she found out, scouring the aisles of the drugstore with Archie, wrapping herself in his arms while they waited for the results, comforting each other when the little pink plus sign showed. They’d been so careful - right? Veronica carried condoms on her due to her not taking the pill due to other health obligations, and they’d made a pact never to have sex when there wasn’t a condom, no matter how heated the moment was. So how had this happened?

Her head felt like it was spinning and for a moment she wondered if she had passed out. Her eyes had shut of their own accord, and she wasn’t sure if anyone was talking because there was a buzzing in her ears that blocked out everything else, and she had a desperate urge to reach for her moscato and down it just to soothe the prickling feelings in her veins but she couldn’t because of the fucking baby.

She thought of Polly - sent away for being pregnant, reduced to living in a mental home, unable to see her family. Hiram and Hermione would never do that, not to Veronica. 

Had Polly thought that about Hal and Alice?

“Are you fucking kidding?”

So she hadn’t passed out. Hiram’s voice forced her back into reality, where Hiram and Hermione sat before her and Fred had but he had stood up and was pacing in front of the couch and his movements made her feel like she was going to pass out again. Her head shook ever so slightly, but it was enough to make Hiram stand up and dive across the table separating Archie and Ronnie from the parents, and he landed on top of Archie with such force that the couch they were sitting on flipped onto its side. Veronica toppled over with the couch she’d been sitting on, and she truly did pass out, she supposed, because when her head hit the ground with the collapse of the couch her senses had been reduced to nothing, merely darkness and a beeping noise that didn’t go away no matter how much Ronnie tried to will it away. 

The first sense she regained was the ability to feel, because the throbbing pain in her head was certainly felt by her. She brought a hand up to touch the spot of her head that hurt, and murmured a soft ‘ow’ and she could hear that, so she supposed her auditory sense had returned next. 

Her sight returned and she pulled herself into a sitting position. Seemingly no one had noticed her fainted state, as the focus of the room was Fred pulling his son out of Hiram’s grasp, and Hermione had attempted to pull off Hiram, but it was no use as Hermione was as small to Hiram as Ronnie was to Archie. Veronica’s brain felt as thought it were pounding against her skull and she would have willingly passed out a dozen more times to avoid the pain she felt.

Finally, a quieter atmosphere had settled around the room though it was nowhere near silent. Archie, Fred and Hiram breathed heavily, and the ringing in Veronica’s ears had subsided just a bit. The entire room seemed as though it were in a fog, and Ronnie wondered if she was still passed out and just dreaming.

Veronica was vaguely aware of Hermione stepping over to her and bringing her hand up and smacking the younger girl across the face, and Fred made to step over to the pair of them but Hiram stuck an arm out and blocked his path and Veronica remembered when Hermione had once threatened to slap her but decided agaisnt it as she ‘wasn’t a violent person’ and Ronnie laughed. 

“What exactly about this is funny to you, Veronica?” Hermione hissed, and Ronnie stopped laughing as she stared up at her mother, and then at Hiram and Archie, both of whom sported swollen and bruised lips, hands, and faces, and Fred, who watched, before she shook her head and wondered if her mother would hit her again. In that moment - despite the haze that had settled around the room, despite the fact that she could only half hear what with the noises that had settled in her ears - she had never felt so terrified of her parents, and she wondered if Hiram would kill Archie or if Hermione would kill her.

“I thought you two were careful.” Fred said, turning to his son. “You said you were - just last month, you promised. How could this have happened?”

“You knew, Fred?” Hermione turned on her old lover. “You know that your son was - was defiling our Veronica? How could you have let this happen?”

Fred’s brows furrowed. “What? Archie didn’t defile Ronnie - “

“He got her pregnant, Fred!” the next shout came from Hiram, who looked as though he could go for a second round with Archie at a second’s notice.

“Don’t act like this is all on Archie, it takes two to make a baby - I’m not sure if you ever went through sex education, Hiram - “

Veronica became acutely aware of how bright the lights in the room were, and her eyes pounded, and she brought a hand in front of her eyes. Archie noticed and began to stride over to her and Ronnie wanted nothing more than to curl up with him, to sleep this nightmare away, but Hiram stuck an arm out again in front of Archie, effectively blocking her boyfriend from seeing her. 

Ronnie looked for something to steady herself with because her weight felt imbalanced, and she wondered what that fall did to her. The next few words tossed around between her parents and Fred were as muffled as Charlie Brown’s teachers, but one sentence said by her mother was heard by Ronnie loud and clear,

“I don’t think Veronica should stay with us anymore.”

Her head snapped up to stare at her mother and Ronnie wondered if she truly was serious. Hiram seemed to be in the same boat as Veronica; he stared at his wife and murmured, “Hermione, with all due respect - “

“I don’t want her under our roof, Hiram. We’ve given her everything she could possibly need and want - “

“Where will I go?” Veronica croaked, wiping tears that had escaped her eyes with the back of her hand. “I mean, Betty’s parents abandoned their own daughter for being a pregnant teen, I doubt they’d let me stay with them - and - and - Jughead’s trailer is hardly enough to accomodate him and his father, and Cheryl burnt down her fucking mansion so that isn’t an option - “

“You’ll figure something out, Veronica. Don’t you always do that?” Hermione picked up the moscato that still sat, untouched, on the coffee table, and downed it with one gulp. Veronica watched her, her mind spinning and her eyes pounding and her ears ringing and her legs inbalanced and then her limbs gave out and she crashed to the floor once more, her mind going before she physically did, and she never felt her body hit the ground.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Veronica decides on a place to stay.

For as angry as Fred was about his seventeen year old son impregnating his girlfriend, Veronica realized that he handled it much better than Hiram and Hermione. Ronnie had never known her parents to be violent people - though, she supposed, she should have figured they’d have that much anger in them. She remembered, once, walking into school in New York after her father’s arrest and hearing her best friend at the time talking about him.

“I’ve been over to their house before,” Nathalia Hartman whispered to anyone who would listen. “Her parents have always been fucking crazy. I’m not shocked that he ended up in jail. I’ll bet Hermione is the next to be locked away.”

After that, Nathalia and Veronica weren’t best friends anymore, but it was the beginning of a slow decline where Veronica’s rose - coloured view of her family began to fade and she saw her parents in their true colours. Was this the end? Would her parents ever invite her back in their home? 

But, as for Fred, he and Archie took Veronica to the hospital after her blacking out episode, and Veronica woke up in the car and assured him that she was fine, that it was probably just shock. When they got there and she was tested, it turned out it wasn’t shock; it was a concussion.

Parents are always right; isn’t that what they say?

Even as they sat in the hospital, Ronnie’s knees drawn up to her chest as she tried to ignore the headache that constantly plagued her, Fred didn’t mention the pregnancy. Not at first. But that was a large thing to ignore, no matter how hard the trio tried, and finally, while they waited for the doctor to return with the results of the concussion tests Veronica had taken, he said something.

“Didn’t it ever occur to you to use protection, so this wouldn’t happen?”

Veronica felt her face burn red and she wondered if there was any way she could go back a month or two and ensure this entire mess hadn’t happened. “It occurred to us - all the time - but sometimes things happen, and … “ her voice trailed off. She didn’t want to continue talking to her boyfriend’s dad about why they couldn’t always slip a condom on. 

The older man slid into a chair next to Archie, who hadn’t spoken at all, an ice pack pressed against his bruised lip. The nurse had provided it when she saw his (minor) injuries. “I suppose I should lecture you on the importance of - of birth control or whatever - “

“Ronnie can’t take birth control, dad.” Archie said, his voice muffled due to the ice. Veronica’s entire body felt hot, and she wondered if there was ever a time where she wanted to die more in her life. 

“Yes, there are other health obligations that prevent me from taking that particular pill. But is there any use lecturing us now? The damage is done, and I’d say we’ve been punished enough for this. I can’t even go home.”

At that moment the doctor came in and the conversation was lost, seemingly, and by the time they left, a bottle of pain reliever pills in her hands, Veronica had texted Kevin begging him to pick her up from the hospital. She didn’t think she’d be able to handle another moment with Fred and Archie, no matter how accomodating they’d been. As she waited for his response, she turned to them.

“I have to thank you … both … for everything,” she began, “but I don’t plan on burdening you any longer. I’m going to wait here until my ride comes.” She motioned towards a bench that stood just outside the hospital with a wave of her hand.

Her phone buzzed and she glanced down at Kevin’s response, which stated ‘sure, b right there’ and she felt a rush of affection for her friend.

“Ron, where are you gonna go?” Archie questioned, brows furrowed. “I mean, you can’t go home and you ruled out Jug and Betty - “

“I’m going to ask Kev if I can stay with him. I texted asking for him to pick me up.”

“You can stay with us, you know.”

Veronica glanced behind Archie to where Fred stood, staring down at his phone, seemingly not having heard Archie’s suggestion. She cringed.

“Archie, the last thing we need is to be living in the same house together right now. I doubt your father would want that. I’ll explain everything to Kevin, if that’s alright, and see if I can stay there because that seems like the best option for now.”

The redhead took a breath and shut his eyes before reaching his arms out and tugging the tinier girl into an embrace. It was so warm and familiar that Veronica felt as though she could have melted into him; she pressed her cheek against his chest, his against the top of her head, her fist clutching her pill bottle so tight she knew it would leave a mark.  
There was the honk of a car and the couple pulled away as though they were tugged apart. Kevin’s truck had pulled up; Fred gripped Archie’s arm, murmured a quick goodbye to Veronica, and the pair retreated, and Veronica climbed into the passenger seat of Kevin’s car.

“Veronica, you know I love you and respect your privacy completely, but please tell me why you’re at the hospital with Fred and Archie and why I was the person you decided to call to pick you up?”

Ronnie buckled and leaned her head back as Kevin began to drive. “Oh, Kev.” she sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose. “It’s a long story.”

\--

“You’re welcome to stay, Ron, but don’t you think you’d be better off at Betty’s? I mean, I have no clothes for you here, of course, and it isn’t like you can go to your house and pack a bag.”

Ronnie watched as Kevin shut the door to his house. The car ride back had been a grueling ten minute recap of what had happened - Kevin purposely took wrong turns and longer routes to allow more time for Veronica to speak. “I can’t go to Betty’s. Her parents sent their own daughter to an asylum because she was pregnant; the rate of them allowing me to stay with them is slim.” Kevin lead the way to his kitchen, and Ronnie slid into a seat at the kitchen table as Kevin went to the fridge to get something to eat. “Though the clothes issue is something I’ve thought about. Even if I went to Betty’s, we’re completely different sizes. She’s a lot taller than me.” Ronnie pressed her forehead against the table.

“I have to admit, you’re in it deep this time.” Kevin set a Coke can in front of her, and she left it untouched for a minute before cracking it open and taking a sip. The liquid was fizzy and she relished the taste, holding the soda in her mouth until it went flat before swallowing. She nodded in agreement, laughing dryly.

“Will your dad demand that you inform him why I’m staying with you guys? I suppose he’d want to know, right?”

Kevin shook his head. “I’ll just say that you got into a family fight or something. Believe me, he won’t question it. The Keller family knows family fights as well as others.”

Veronica raised her head and took another sip. “Do you think I should tell Betty now? Or wait?”

“I think, as much as Betty loves Jughead, old flames die hard. She might take you getting knocked up badly.”

One dark eyebrow raised in surprise. “You think she’ll be mad that I’m pregnant?”

“Possibly.” Kevin raised his hands in surrender at the confused look his friend gave him. “Listen, Betty liked Archie for years. I mean, I think she’ll always like him a little bit, you know? Crushes that big don’t go away easily.”

“But she’s been dating Jughead for a year.”

“My point stands.” Kevin cracked open his soda. “I’m not saying you shouldn’t tell her. You should. Just lower your expectations about how she’ll reply because, honestly, it probably won’t be great.”

The raven haired girl groaned. In her mind, she remembered when she kissed Archie and Betty was furious, and she imagined that anger directed at her multipled by fifty - kissing someone and having their kid were two very different things, both destined for different reactions. What if Kevin was right? What if Betty was furious? Could Betty stay mad at Ronnie forever due to this?

She imagined everyone else’s reactions, too, then. Jughead, who had been the biggest supporter of Veronica and Archie, wondering if he had been wrong in loving them as they clearly weren’t responsible enough to use protection. Cheryl, who Veronica would always harbor secret fantasies and dreams about, pouring her all into the baby and making the decision of what to do with it even harder for Veronica and Archie. And what about Josie? Reggie? Valerie?

“Shit, Ron. I didn’t mean to scare you.” Kevin reached over and picked up a lock of her hair in his way of a comforting gesture. “I just need you to be realistic, alright? You and Arch messed up, even if you didn’t intend it to happen. I’ll go out with you tomorrow to see about getting clothes.”

She glanced up at him. “Kev, you don’t need to waste your money on me - “

He shook his head. “It isn’t wasting my money, Ron. Come upstairs; you can sleep in the guest bedroom. It’s getting late, and I’m sure you’re tired.” she stood, took another sip of her coke, and followed him up to the guest room, never having felt more grateful for Kevin Keller.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey !! i hope you guys enjoyed this chapter / the story so far. this is one of the few ships (varchie) that i really really love and i have so many ideas for them that i hope to write:)
> 
> follow my tumblr @.vcrchiedale bc i post semi funny content and i also try to hype this story up as much as i can because, honestly, it's one of the first stories i've made that i'm actually committed to, haha.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Veronica goes with her friends to get her stuff from her home.

The chime of the bells at Pop’s indicated the arrival of a new customer, though Veronica made no attempt to look up from her worn copy of Breakfast at Tiffany’s. She kept it in her purse at all times, and as her purse was always on her person, it was the only book she had as the library in her own bedroom at the Pembrooke was unavailable to her.

“Ron? Just an observation, but are you wearing your clothes from yesterday?”

The smaller girl’s head snapped up at the familiar voice, and she found herself staring into the eyes of Betty Cooper. Blonde ponytail and pastel sweater clad, Veronica shut her book and gave a smile.

“Hey, Betts.” Veronica indicated for the seat across from her, and her best friend slid in, the concerned look on her face not leaving as her eyes stayed glued to the girl across from her. “And I might possibly have commited the heinous crime of wearing my clothes two days in a row.” Before Betty had opened her mouth to answer, Ronnie was racking her mind desperately for an excuse of why she hadn’t changed into a new outfit from the previous day.

(‘Just lower your expectations about how she’ll reply because, honestly, it probably won’t be great.’ Kevin’s words. Telling the truth wasn’t an option.)

Her taller friend shifted in her seat, reaching over to rest a hand on top of Veronica’s. “Why?”

Here it comes. “I had a fight with daddy and decided to stay the night at Kev’s unexpectedly. No time to grab any clothes or anything.”

“Oh no, V. What happened? What were you guys fighting about?”

Veronica thought back to the previous night, to Archie telling them she was pregnant, to her boyfriend being attacked by her father, to said father unintentionally giving Veronica a concussion. (A little white lie never hurt anyone.) “Just some issues, you know, with him getting mad about Archie. The same old stuff, but we’re both pretty stubborn people, and neither of us were backing down.”

The way she worded it seriously downplayed the event, but Betty nodded sympathetically. “Why didn’t you call me? You could have stayed with me.”

She answered in a way that she knew wouldn’t satisfy Betty, “I didn’t want to bother you,” but if Betty was unsatisfied she didn’t show it.

“I’ll get us some food. Chocolate milkshake, right? And how about some fries?”

If she weren’t always so desperate for some of Pop Tate’s cheese fries and shakes, Veronica would have thought the way her mouth salivated was one of her first pregnancy cravings. “God, that sounds great. You’re the greatest, B.”

The blonde replied softly with, “I try,” before walking away, and Ronnie felt a rush of satisfaction for her before she felt her phone buzz in her purse. As she fished it out, she stored her book back into her bag and glanced at the notification on the screen.

She nearly choked. A message from her father - for a moment she wondered if she would be allowed home, and she was so happy she nearly cried out. But as her eyes actually read the message, her mood dropped as she faced the actual content of the text.

‘You can pick up some of your things in an hour. Your mother and I will be out.’

Veronica sighed, dropping her head onto the table, her nails drumming against the cushioned seat as she wondered, briefly, why her father would allow her to get her stuff while they were out. Surely they were worried about her doing something to the apartment?

The answer came to her nearly instantly, and she wondered why she had even bothered to wonder. They didn’t want to see her.

A choked cry attempted to leave her throat, but Ronnie was in public and she’d be damned if she was ever caught crying, in the middle of a diner, no less.

The sound of the door opening forced her to bring her head up and she sat up straight. Jughead and Archie, perhaps the two people she wanted to see the least. Betty, she could handle, because Betty accepted that Ronnie didn’t want to talk much, but Archie already knew what was going on and Jughead seemed to figure stuff out before anyone else did. But she gave a smile, waved, and the two boys slid right into the table - Jughead across from her, Archie right by her side.

Betty returned but a second later, so quickly after that the trio didn’t have time to say anything to each other, and she set Ronnie’s milkshake in front of her, put the fries on the table, and slid in next to Jugehad. Betty’s own milkshake sat in front of her, and she took a long sip.

While Jughead was quick to wrap an arm around Betty, Archie and Veronica both looked as though their backs were stiff as a pole. Neither had looked at the other nor, honestly, acknowledged them, either with a smile or a wave or even a nod in the other’s direction.

Betty glanced back and forth between the dark haired girl and the redhead. “What’s up? Normally you two can’t go five minutes without touching each other.”

Veronica took a sip of her shake. She had no intentions of answering, so Archie sighed and answered, “Nothing, Betts. It’s nothing.”

“Doesn’t look like nothing.” The food addict removed his arm from Betty and reached into the basket of fries and plucked one out, sighing blissfully at the melted cheese and potatoes. “I mean, did - “

“I have to go home after this,” Veronica interjected, “and pack a bag. Would you three be so generous as to help me?”

The three exchanged glances, furrowed brows and nonexistent smiles and all. Betty spoke first, chewing on a fry coated in so much cheese that none of the fry was visible at all. “V, why do you have to pack a bag? I thought - you and your dad - I thought it would be a one time thing, that you’d go home tonight.”

V shook her head, relishing in the taste of chocolate ice cream and whipped cream before replying, “No, I believe I - downplayed - the fight a bit. It was serious. I’ll be staying at Kevin’s for a while.”

Realistically, she shouldn’t have said anything about being kicked out, but lying about an intense fight with her father was better than facing interrogation about why Veronica and Archie hadn’t melted into each other, like they usually did. Besides, she’d be staying clear of her house for a long time - it would be good to have a few extra hands to pack her clothes, shoes and accessories. She wouldn’t let having a baby cramp her style - how silly was that idea?

From her side vision she could see Archie exchange a look with Jughead, and she glanced up at her boyfriend for the first time since he’d entered Pop’s. She noticed, unsurprisingly, that his eyes appeared puffy - the bags under his eyes were as prominent as they were in the days after his father’s shooting, maybe more so. The bruise on his lip was still enlarged, and she nearly cringed at the sight of it. She was surprised Betty and Juggy hadn’t said anything. Well - if she hadn’t known where that bruise came from, she certainly would have asked. He wore his varsity jacket and jeans, pretty much the same as always.

(There’s something off about him.)

(It might be the fact that he got into a fight with Hiram for defiling Veronica._

(She felt silly for assuming it would be anything else.)

When Veronica reached in to grab another fry, she was shocked to be met with the greasy inside of the basket, and she glared at Jughead, who was licking his fingers, and she felt a rush of anger so strong that she felt like she could throw him against the wall.

As quickly as the rage had come it was gone. Ronnie wondered if that was simply her admiration for Pop’s cheese fries that she felt such uncontrollable anger, or if it was the pregnancy.  
(Everything lead back to the pregnancy.)

She grabbed her purse off the seat and tapped Archie’s shoulders twice, indicating for him to exit the booth. “Let’s head to the Pembrooke. We don’t have much time, I don’t suppose.”  
And, ignoring the worried looks her friends cast each other, she held her head high and walked out.

\--

With a flourish, Veronica entered the apartment she called home with her friends, remembering that the last time she was here, her father gave her a concussion. For the second time in her life (or perhaps the millionth) Veronica attempted to give her father a free pass. 

He was angry. He messed up. He made a mistake. He didn’t mean it.

The couch had been flipped back up to it’s original state, and Ronnie lead the way to her room, ignoring Jughead’s occasional gasps at paintings that cost thousands, or Betty stopping to examine jewelry on the tables adorning the hall. Archie was the only one who didn’t show any wonder to the apartment, having been there plenty of times. The last time he’d been there hadn’t been pleasurable, though he supposed every place had it’s bad memories.

(His dad getting shot in Pop’s.)

(Nearly attacking Jughead with a baseball bat in his house.)

(Being beaten up in Ronnie’s apartment.)

Veronica pushed open the door of her room and entered, making a beeline for the closet. In her closet, along with her clothes and shoes and makeup, was a suitcase she’d used to move most of her stuff from New York to Riverdale, and she was prepared to use it now. She tugged it out and set it on the bed, unzipping the zipper, and then she placed her hands on her hips, glancing from the closet to Archie. Betty and Jughead were somewhere else, maybe having their own conversation, or, (she thought herself so pretentious for assuming) maybe they were captivated by another thing in her home.

Either way, it was just her and Archie.

“Let’s get packing.” she murmured, tugging some clothes off of hangers and laying them on the bed. “You can take all the clothes out and - and put them on the bed - and I’ll fold them after - and then I’ll get the shoes or whatever, it doesn’t really matter - “

“Ron,” he said, his voice soft as he gripped her arm to stop her from grabbing more clothes, “what are we going to do?”  
She took a breath. She wasn’t prepared to talk about the baby now because she was too worried about crying at the reality of it. “What we’re gonna do is take out the clothes and put them on the bed and - “  
He rolled his eyes and she tugged her arm out of his grasp, grabbing more of her stuff from her closet. “You know what I mean, Ron. I mean - this is a big deal and - you need to go to the doctor, or something, and we need to decide what to do with it.” he paused, and she took the time to lay out more of her outfits on the bed, “do you wanna keep it?”

“I don’t know!” Veronica burst out, and the tears that had been threatening to flood her eyes came dangerously close to spilling down her cheeks. She wiped them with the back of her hand. “I don’t know. I haven’t exactly had time to think about it.”

He sighed, and she motioned for him to get moving and help her. He did, grabbing the last of her clothes from her closet and setting them on the bed. She sat and grabbed the first dress of the pile, folding it quickly. “Veronica - “

“Please, Archie, for the love of God, please don’t talk about this. Not while I’m packing to be kicked out of my house. This is the worst time.” she breathed, setting the clothes she’d folded in the suitcase. “Now just help me here, alright?”

He hesitated before sitting, grabbing the dress off the top of the pile, folding it hastily, and Veronica would have mocked him about his folding abilities but she figured teasing him wasn’t a good thing to do in that specific time.

Jughead and Betty entered shortly after, beginning small talk about that exotic fruit in the freezer that they’d tried (Veronica laughed for the first time that day at the fact that they’d raided the fridge) and the duo sat down to help her back - and, soon after, the suitcase was fully packed with a zipper that barely closed unless Jughead sat on it. Archie heaved it on his back as they walked to the door, Veronica feeling lightheaded as she walked through her home possibly for the last time.

Ultimately, she had no desire in keeping the baby or even going through with birthing it. Maybe she’d get an abortion - which seemed like the best option - or, at the very least, put it up for adoption - but she vowed to herself that, if by some slim chance she decided to keep the baby, she’d never, ever kick it out of her home. 

The four of them walked to the door, Veronica trailing behind them, when she took sight of a familiar leather black purse sitting atop one of the tables in the hall. That bag belonged to her mother - the purse itself a gift from Hiram back on Veronica’s 14th Christmas. Her mother seldom went anywhere without it. Veronica could recall little to no events where Hermione didn’t have the bag - she remembered sitting at Pop’s shoppe with her mother, eating, and her mother reaching into that bag and pulling out her credit card to pay - her credit card hooked up to the Lodges’ bank account …

“Ron? Are you coming?” Jughead called back to her - he held the door open as Betty and Archie had already left, and Ronnie had stopped in the middle of the hall, eyes glued to the bag.

“Yeah - I just forgot something. I’ll meet you in the car.” she promised, offering her friend a smile. He nodded and shut the door, leaving Veronica alone in the apartment.

(Her mother would be furious.)

Oh, but it would feel so good to do - to rob her mother of something she loved and needed just as her mother had robbed Ronnie of her home.

(She was a Lodge for a reason.)

She stepped over to the purse sitting on the table and opened the clasps, peering inside.

(Jackpot.)

Hermione’s wallet sat in the depths of the purse, beneath various lipsticks, photos and $20 bills. Ronnie pulled it out and opened the leather pouch. A baby photo of Veronica (she snorted) and a couple more bucks - and a small, navy blue credit card, just waiting to be snatched by Veronica.

She tugged out the card and slid it into the pocket of her dress. With a smirk, she rearranged the lipsticks and photos and bills to be a carbon copy of how they were before and shut the bag. The weight of the card in her pocket was so light it was nearly unnoticeable. Ronnie’s heart beamed with pride as she swung open the door and set off for the outside, knowing that stealing from her mother had been another piece taken from the beautiful puzzle that was the Lodge family, and, yet, she felt no shame. None at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll start tagging this in every chapter bc it honestly would make me so happy if you followed my tumblr, @ vcrchiedale! you can send me asks about the story and the show or anything relating to riverdale and i'll be more than happy to answer!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Veronica makes two very important visits.

By the next week, Veronica had purchased gifts for everyone. For Archie, she bought a new guitar, for Jughead, a shiny new computer, and for Betty, she practically bought out the entire American Eagle shop for her best girl. For Kevin, she got him a new phone, entire new makeup palettes for Cheryl, and an array of gifts for nearly everyone she’d ever come into contact with. After all - she wasn’t spending any of her money. It was all linked to the Lodges’ bank account, though she was shocked it hadn’t been shut down yet. All of the gifts she’d purchased for everyone sat in gift bags, tissue paper leaking out of the tops, though the only ones she hand’t distributed were those for Cheryl, Josie and Reggie.

So - as of now - she had walked to Cheryl’s new apartment. Cheryl, since graduating, had shocked everyone by moving out of the small mansion she had lived in with her mother and nana, and she bought an apartment that was less than half the size of the Pembrooke. Of course, Cheryl would never go for something as small as a regular apartment, but it was a total downsize from the mansion she’d grown up in.

Ronnie clutched the gift bag for Cheryl, her heart beating as she entered the building, remembering the number of Cheryl’s apartment (315) and stepping over to the elevator. She was prepared to tell Cheryl everything - about the fight, the baby, about everything. She had given Archie a quick heads up (‘i m telling cheryl abt the baby.’) to which he’d initially rejected (‘won’t she tell ppl???’) and she shot him down (‘believe me babe she’s changed.’) He’d accepted her offer after that, and she gripped Cheryl’s gift, walking into the lift and pressing the button for the third floor.

Her phone sat in her purse, and she felt it buzz - when she looked it was a message from Jughead, and she fished it out of her bag and looked at the message.

‘i need 2 talk 2 u. meet at pop’s in 5?’

She sighed and typed her reply. 

‘can’t, i’m at cheryl’s. i’ll text u when i leave’

It was only after she’d dropped her phone back in her purse that she wondered what Jughead needed to talk to her about. Had he figured something out? Did Archie tell?

(He wouldn’t.)

(Maybe he would.)

The elevator door opened, and Ronnie stepped out. She watched a middle aged man walk into the lift and give her a small wave as the door shut. 

(Nice people.)

She’d been to Cheryl’s apartment three times before - once for a party that got so wild that Cheryl was nearly kicked out, and then for a sleepover on the anniversary of Jason’s death, and when her nana died. To be truthful, Cheryl didn’t seem so sad about the death of her grandmother, but Ronnie did remember Cheryl claiming that her nana had said that she wished Cheryl was never born, so she supposed she wouldn’t be so distraught about her death either.

Her phone buzzed again but Veronica didn’t bother to check it. She knew it would just be Jug. Her fist rapped the door once before it flung open and, before Ron could help herself, she blurted out,

“Cheryl, I have so much to tell you. To give you a brief summary, I’m pregnant, and I stole my mom’s credit card so I bought gifts for everyone.”

It was only after she had finished speaking that she realized the face at the door was, in fact, not Cheryl, but instead the usually endearing but presently terrified face of Josie McCoy, and Ronnie felt heat rush to her face.

“Oh.” Ron breathed, brushing a lock of hair behind her ear. “Josie. Can I come in?”

Josie stepped aside, and Ronnie stepped in, wondering if she’d faint.

Sitting on the couch in the living room was Cheryl, setting a comb on the table in front of her, mouth dropped open.

“Veronica Lodge. Who knew you’d be the new Juno?” Cheryl patted the spot next to her, and Veronica slid next to her. 

The darker haired girl rolled her eyes as Josie reentered the room. “I have - gifts for you, Cher, that I bought with the card I stole - and I have stuff for you too, Josie, but I didn’t plan on you being here, so I’ll drop them off to you some other time.”

The singer waved her hand. “The best gift you could give me, Ron, is the backstory on you robbing from your mother and getting pregnant. I assume it’s Archie’s?”

“Who else’s?”

“You never know.”

And Veronica launched into the story, telling them everything, about the fight with her father to getting a concussion and moving in with Kev and stealing the card. Josie and Cheryl were perfect audience members - they gasped at the right times, and squealed words on encouragement, and they both seemed to be on the edge of their seats the entire time.

“Oh, Ron.” Cheryl sighed when Veronica had finished. “Why don’t you take your things from the gay best friend’s house and come stay with me? I could definitely use some company.”

Josie’s mouth dropped as she turned to glare at the redhead. “Cheryl, I’m here all the time!”

Cheryl shot her friend a smile. “Someone who doesn’t use my shower and sing ‘Lady Marmalade’ at the top of their lungs.”

Ronnie laughed, and Josie shrugged. “It’s a good song, Cher.”

“Anyway,” Cheryl turned back towards Veronica. “Every Juno needs her Leah, right?”

Brows furrowed. “I’m not sure that’s a great friendship comparison.”

Cheryl stood and gave Veronica such a dazzling grin that she had to look away to hide the own large smile plaguing her own features. “Oh, Ron, please move in with me! Josie basically lives here, too - we can be the best aunties to your baby!”

Veronica thought, pressing a finger to her chin. Her two friends eagerly waited for her response - and when she finally burst out, “Yes! Yes, of course I’ll move in - “ they both let out such high shrieks of laughter that were much higher than Ronnie thought was possibly and engulfed the pregnant teen in the most well received hug of her life.

 

__

The next visit she made would be a bit dimmer than the excitable, joyous visit to Cheryl’s - she had stopped at Archie’s house, holding his guitar (wrapped) and prepared to inform him of the doctor’s appointment she’d scheduled - that upcoming Saturday - and inviting him, of course, to go. It seemed awfully sad to go to your first doctor’s visit alone.

She knocked on the door of the Andrews’ residence, clutching the gift, wonderously excited from her visit to Cheryl despite the feeling of overwhelming stress that occured whenever she saw her best friend. Sure, she loved Cheryl to the moon and back, but the slight romantic feelings she’d developed for the older girl hadn’t gone away, though they were so subtle and miniscule compared to the love she felt for Archie that she considered it easy to overlook them.

(But they weren’t gone just because she didn’t focus on them.)

(And, for some reason, today, she had wanted to kiss Cheryl after agreeing to move in with her.)

(Doesn’t being pregnant make you horny?)

The door swung open, and there stood Archie, tall and muscular, red hair and all, and Veronica felt that the urge to push him up against a wall was a million times more intense than the urge she’d felt for Cheryl. He grinned at her, so sweet and genuine that she felt her heart melt into a million pieces, and she was brought back to all of those times when they had just begun dating, when the urge to have their hands on each other was constant, and that was the look he’d always give her. Now, it was different, mainly due to the pregnancy, but for a moment she could have tricked herself into believing it was still like that.

He stepped outside and shut the door behind him, his eyes going to the package she held. “Ronnie, unless you wrapped something else in the shape of a guitar, I’m assuming that’s what that is.”

She grinned, handing him the instrument. “You’re quite right, babe. It’s a guitar. Open it, open it.”

He took it from her and peeled off the wrapping, and in an instant the gift wrap was scattered onto the porch. Archie’s mouth dropped as he ran a hand along the face of the guitar, plucking one of the strings, before setting it down against the wall and leaning down, kissing her so sweetly that it took her a moment to reciprocate. When she did, she buried her hand in his hair, the other going to his neck, but the sound of a car zooming by made her pull apart, grinning.

“Do you like it?”

Archie laughed, grabbing the guitar and her hand and leading her back into the house. “My dad isn’t home,” he said, and, again, she remembered retreating to his room when his dad wasn’t there, and it seemed like Archie was too, but his eyes darted to her stomach and he hesitated.

“Arch,” she started, gripping his arm, and it was as though the lighthearted air in the room had dropped dramatically, and she took a breath. “I made a doctor’s appointment. You’ll come with me, right? This Saturday?”

He nodded instantly, setting the guitar down against the wall once more, setting his hands on her waist. A wave of shivers flowed through her body, and she threw her arms around his chest, pressing her body against his in a desperate hug, her cheek pressed against his chest.

“Of course I’ll go. I don’t - I don’t wanna miss it.” she smiled and tightened her grip. “Have you thought about what you wanna do?”

Veronica paused. Truthfully, she hadn’t really thought about it. “I’ll think about it more after the appointment. What do you wanna do, Archiekins?”

He pulled apart from her, staring into her eye in a way that would have made her uncomfortable had it been anyone else. “I don’t know, Ronnie. I mean - you know I’ll support you with anything you decide - “

“Anything we decide, Arch. This isn’t just my choice. We both need to make a choice, together.”

“Well - yeah. But ultimately, you’re the one carrying the baby. I’m not gonna force you to carry it because I want you to.”

She tilted her head. “Do you? Want me to, I mean.”

Archie shrugged and removed one hand from her waist to run through his hair. “I don’t know. I mean - we’re so young, Ron, but also - “

His voice trailed off due to the buzz of a text message from his phone in his pocket. He dug it out and glanced at the notification.

“Jug wants to meet me at Pop’s. He said he texted you earlier - what do you think that’s about?”

She shut her eyes. “Shit, Arch. Do you think he knows?”

“How would he have been able to figure it out?”

She gripped her bag and stepped away from him. “I don’t know. I don’t know! But maybe he doesn’t … let’s just go. Alright? Let’s just go.”

Archie stared at her for another minute, ran a hand through his hair and down his face, and swung open the door. They left, setting off for Archie’s car, both of their hearts pounding violently as they prepared to tell another person about the baby.

(Maybe.)

(It isn’t definite.)

(What else would he need to talk about?)

(It’s pretty definite.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> follow @ vcrchiedale on tumblr!
> 
> alsooo i'm aware my version of cheryl is nowhere near as witty as cheryl in canon, but ugh, she's so hard to write!!! i tried:))
> 
> please leave comments and feedback! they honestly make me so happy and i loooove receiving them!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Veronica and Archie tell another person about the pregnancy, and it goes about as well as telling the parents did.

“I know, about you two.”

One dark eyebrow arched and despite Ronnie’s growing pit of fear, her snarky facade didn’t fade. “About Archie and me? Most people have known about us for a while.”

Jughead rolled his eyes and sipped from his milkshake as Archie, Veronica and him sat at Pop’s, discussing the much sought after conversation that the Serpent hoped to have with them.

“How did you find out?” Archie leaned forward, his vanilla milkshake forgotten on the table in front of him. The complete opposite of Veronica, the redhead kept repeatedly running a hand through his hair, sweat glistening on his face. His fingers drummed on the table, his foot tapping.

(I caused this.)

(No you didn’t.)

“I heard you two, talking at the Pembrooke. The door was open. If you had intended to talk about it in the presence of two other people I’d suggest closing the door.”

Ronnie’s tough exterior broke as she envisioned what she was hearing. “Did Betty hear?” Jughead didn’t answer within a three second time limit, and she repeated, “Jug, does Betty know?”

He shook his head. “Not as far as I know. I was over near the door but I … distracted her by suggesting that we raid the fridge. Hence why we found the exotic fruit. What was it called?”

She sighed dramatically, her eyes boring into his. “It’s called a pitaya. But that isn’t the point, Jug. You can’t tell anyone.”

Jughead held his hands up in surrender, glancing between Veronica and Archie. “My lips are sealed. When have I ever let you both down?”

Archie leaned his head back. “I’m not going to answer that. But I trust you, Jug. Okay? You can’t tell anyone. Not your dad, not any of the Serpents - “

“And especially not Betty.” Veronica pleaded, taking a large sip of her shake. “We’re serious, Juggie. You can’t breathe a word of this to anyone except Arch and I.” she paused, and then added, “and Kevin. And Cheryl and Josie. But that’s it.”

 

The Serpent cocked his head to the side. “Why does Cheryl Blossom know? She used to be the biggest gossip in the entire school.”  
A fiery heat rose in her stomach as Jughead spoke about Cheryl.

(He wasn’t even saying anything that bad.)

(Really, he was teling the truth.)

(Don’t get so mad.)

(You know it’s the truth.)

“The key word is ‘used to,’ Jughead Jones, and she’s changed, not that any of you would spend enough time with her to notice that.” she said cooly, feeling like a puzzle being arranged together as she set her composture firmly back into place. Was that Veronica’s hormones talking?

(What hormones? Pregnancy or something different?)

Jughead squinted at her. “She doesn’t exactly have the best track record with any of us.”

“She’s done a lot, for all of us.”

Archie interjected, wrapping an arm around Veronica. She instantly calmed herself down, reminding herself that she couldn’t get so angry about this kind of stuff, that she’s talked about this before. He said, “Jug, she basically got your dad out of jail by saying she forgave him. I think you, of anyone, should give her the benefit of the doubt.”

“And she suggested that I move in with her.” Ronnie added, and that seemed to end the discussion, as Jughead didn’t add anything, just nodded with a strange glint in his eyes.

“When are you guys going to tell Betty?” he questioned, and Ronnie knew that she, herself, had been asking herself the same thing for so long. 

(Betty would be so heartbroken, that little voice in her head said.)

(But she’s with Jughead. She has been. She has to be over Archie, and wouldn’t she be happy for Ronnie?, Veronica’s conscience fought back.)

“We haven’t really talked about it,” Archie replied, and Veronica’s fight with her thoughts continued.

“Will she be mad?” Veronica asked Jughead quietly, balancing her chin on her hand.

“She’ll be madder the longer you keep it from her.”

(Oh, god.)

“Well, then.” Veronica slid out of the booth and stood, giving her redheaded boyfriend a smile that was the opposite of how her squirming insides felt. “Let’s go do it.”

His mouth dropped, and she saw Archie’s skin pale. “Now? Ron - “

“I’d rather do it now than wait another month and get her angrier that we kept it from her. Trust me.” she glanced at Jughead, who chewed on his straw quietly. “Do you agree, Juggie?”

The dark haired boy looked up at her and nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, I do. Arch, this is the best thing, honestly - better now than in a week or two - “

“Fine, then let’s go.” And Archie stood, and Ronnie felt her heart drop because she hadn’t expected him to agree, but now that he had, she had to go through with it. And she already knew Betty would be pissed.

(Betty’s sister was sent to an asylum for this same reason.)

(Betty would be afraid for them.)

(After all, Alice always said Archie looked like Jason.)

(What if Veronica and Archie were the next Polly and Jason?)

“Nice conversation, Jug.” Veronica shot him a grin and spinned on her heel, though as she walked off, she turned to see if Archie was following to see him exchange a look of absolute terror to his best friend and she realized that that look was an absolute imitation of how her insides felt.

\--

Veronica’s hand was clutching Archie’s as they stared at the Cooper’s door, their hands equally as sweaty, eyes shut, wondering if Betty wasn’t home. She often wasn’t - she worked part time at different places around Riverdale, but, of course, now, the blonde swung open the door with a grin so large that it hurt Veronica to know that it would soon (maybe) be wiped off her face. It also hurt Ronnie to notice that Betty was wearing one of her new AE sweaters, one that Veronica had bought her.

“Archie, Ronnie, what’s up?” Betty glanced between the both of them, then at their hands, and their grim faces, and then Betty looked grim too. “What happened?”

Veronica took a breath. Here goes nothing, she thought. “Betty, we have something to tell you.”

The youngest Cooper stepped outside and shut the door behind her, crossing her arms in the cold. “Yeah? What is it? Did something happen?”

Archie glanced at the ground, the toe of his sneaker digging into the front stoop. 

Ronnie untangled her hand from Archie’s, ignoring her boyfriend’s pained expression as he glanced at her. She took a breath and said, so softly she was shocked she herself could hear it, “I’m pregnant, B.”

The blonde leaned forward, her ear extended towards her raven haired best friend. “Excuse me?”

“I’m pregnant, B.” Veronica said louder, her voice aiming straight for Betty’s ear. Whether it was the shock of the news or the volume of Ronnie’s voice, directly in her ear, but Betty flinched away, gripping onto the doorknob, her face paling.

For a moment she was lost for words, seemingly, her mouth opening and closing a few times as she glanced at the couple, then to Veronica’s torso, which was still flat with no prominent bulge. When Betty finally spoke, it was a simple, “oh.” And then, again, a bit louder, “oh.”

Veronica rushed to say something, tripping over her own words. “I - I know, it’s shocking, and I’m - sorry - I’m so sorry - but Jug said you should know - “

The blonde seemed even more offended by Veronica’s last statement than the news. “Jughead knew? Before I did?”

“We didn’t tell him, Betts.” Archie said, speaking for the first time, and Betty glanced at him in a way that one might look at something stuck to the bottom of their shoe. “He figured it out - he heard us talking - “

“How long ago did you find out?” the Cooper’s nostrils flared and Veronica wanted to melt into the front stoop, to become a part of the steps, because she’d rather be walked on than to be in this position. “Has it been this big secret? A secret hidden from me? How many other people know?”

“No - “ Veronica’s words were cut off by the choking sob that threatened to rise out of her throat, and she took a deep breath, searching for Archie’s hand, but he must have pulled it away because she couldn’t find it. “No, not at all - I just - we found out last week and - “

“So why didn’t you tell me last week?” Betty’s voice was raising hysterically, and Veronica wondered if either her or Archie would become the victim of B’s physical harrassment. “Why hide it?”

Archie spoke before Ronnie could even open her mouth, “we weren’t hiding it, Betty, it’s big news - we had to talk about it first - “

“Who else knows?” she repeated, and Veronica brought her hand to her eye to wipe the tear that threatened to stream down her cheek.

“Just - “ she swallowed and whispered, “Kevin … and Josie and Cheryl - and Jughead. And you.”

Betty’s tongue poked her cheek and she let out a dry chuckle. “They all knew before me.” she gave the couple an angry smile, her chest heaving violently. “I’m the fifth fucking person to know? I thought I would be the first - or, at least, that you wouldn’t wait a week? When you were talking about being kicked out, that’s what it was about, wasn’t it?”

Veronica nodded. Her throat was dry - she couldn’t speak, and she didn’t know what she’d say even if she could.

“Betty, in all fairness … “ Archie’s voice trailed off, and his hand suddenly gripped Veronica’s, and she was so desperate to feel him that she gripped his one hand with both of hers.

Two green eyes landed on their interlocked hands, and she sighed. “You two are seventeen. Didn’t it ever occur to you to use protection?”

“It did, it just - I don’t know - “

“You two are irresponsible.”

Veronica’s temper flared, and despite herself, she found herself comparing Betty’s response to that of Cheryl’s. How Cheryl had been so overjoyed, so excited to be an auntie for the second time, and Betty was so angry, and it made Ronnie angry, despite her best efforts.

“Don’t you think we know that?” Veronica hissed, and Archie murmured at her to stop before she got carried away. 

Betty shook her head at the pair of them, laughing sarcastically. “Oh, yes, you know that.” she paused. “Being a pregnant seventeen year old ruined Polly’s life. Do you want to be the next Polly Cooper?”

(Of course she would say that.)

Veronica’s fists clenched, and Archie’s murmurs of ‘calm down’ became more insistent but she was past the point of no return.

“Why are you angry, Betty? Because we took too long to tell you about the biggest thing in our lives right now?”

“I thought you two were more responsible.”

“The most responsible people can make mistakes.”

“This is a bit too large to be classified as a mistake, V.”

The two friends glared at each other, and Ronnie felt her heart beating so fast, and she imagined it beating out of her chest and flopping onto the ground. 

“I need to go.” Betty murmured, stepping inside. “Good luck.”

And the bright red door of the Cooper home was slammed in their faces, and they were left just as they were before, clutching hands and staring, silently, at the entrance to Betty’s house.

They stayed for a moment, and Veronica wasn’t fully aware of the tears streaking down her cheeks until Archie faced her body towards him and wiped her tears with his thumb.

“She’ll come around.”

“No, she won’t,” his girlfriend croaked, sniffing miserably, and she took a shaky breath, the kind that you’d take after sobbing for an hour, where it’s so hard to breathe but you know you have to. “God, she’s right. We’re irresponsible.”

Archie, still grabbing her hand, began walking down the pathway to his car. When they made it to the vehicle, he pinned her against it, in a protective gesture rather than a sexual one.

“Yeah, we are.” he said, “but we can still be responsible about our irresponsibility. I’m here for you, Ron, okay? Always,”

She nodded, wiping her tears, before turning and entering the car, her forehead pressed against the glass as she wondered how she could have possibly allowed her life to get to the point it had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FOLLOW VCRCHIEDALE ON TUMBLR also i'm really satisfied with this chapter so please leave feedback!


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Veronica goes to the doctor's with Archie and Fred.

Veronica had been to a hospital twice in her life. Once, to visit her baby cousin who had just been born, and she was only three and despised the way the building smelled and how her shoes squeaked and how everyone seemed sad. She bitched about it to her parents, and they told her to quiet down but she knew they agreed based on how quick they were to get out of the hospital. The second time, she’d fallen off the monkey bars at school when she was seven and broke her leg and earned a nasty cut behind her ear that hadn’t gone away for months after. Her parents were called but Hermione was the only one who showed - and Veronica was rushed to the hospital, treated, given a cast of any colour she wanted and endless toys provided to her by her parents.

Now, both trips seemed miniscule as she sat, foot drumming against the ground, hating the scent just as much as she had when she was three. Her shoes still squeaked on the ground, but everyone seemed - happy. A young couple sat a few seats down, the woman’s stomach large and round, their voices soft as they spoke joyously to each other, and Ronnie wondered if that would be her and Archie. 

A young mother sat on the far end of the room, in the very last chair, with a stomach half the size of the other woman and a young boy sitting on her lap. The boy spoke loudly to his mother (presumabley) and Veronica could hear snippits of what he said (he mainly seemed to be confirming that, when the new baby arrived, he would still be his mother’s favourite) and finally there was her and Archie, hands clutched together, the back of his head pressed against the wall, eyes shut. He looked about as nervous as she felt, and aside from the toddler’s babbling, the waiting room was mainly quiet.

Ronnie leaned her head closer to his, speaking in a hushed tone to Archie, “Did you ask your dad if he wanted to go?” She had texted Archie the day before and told him to ask Fred, because she’d be damned if their baby grew up without a grandfather (assuming, of course, that they decided to keep it) but, seeing as Fred wasn’t there, she assumed he’d declined the offer.

The redhead shrugged, eyes flicking around the waiting room and Ronnie knew that, as far as she knew, the last time he’d been there was when his dad had been shot, and she squeezed his hand tighter. “He said he’d try to come. I suppose he must be busy, but - “

“Veronica Lodge?” A dark skinned doctor had poked her head into the waiting room, and Ronnie looked at Archie before standing, not dropping his hand. He stood as well and the two followed the doctor through a hallway to an office - home to an examination bed and tools Ronnie had only seen in TV shows - an ultrasound machine, for one, but Ronnie didn’t have time to remember the names of the other machines before the doctor told her to lay down on the bed.

She obliged, of course, watching Archie sink into the plastic seat beside the bed. She took a deep breath and watched the doctor move around the room, the woman securing gloves on her hands.

“Now, Miss Lodge, before we start, we do have a few mandatory questions you must answer.” The doctor leaned against the counters against the wall containing a sink and cabinets, holding a clipboard and a pen and Ronnie was reminded of all the medical shows she’d watched with her parents. “First, I need to know about your medical history - just simple stuff, things you probably already know the answers to.”

She nodded, sitting up with her legs crossed, fingers drumming against the bed she sat on. The doctor began, “Do you have any medical or mental problems that - “

There was a knock at the door, and it opened a moment later to reveal Fred, and the somersaults in Veronica’s stomach slowed down because if her parents couldn’t be there (as she always imagined they’d be at her first prenatal ultrasound) at least Fred could be. She glanced at Archie, whose face nearly lit up, and she grinned before turning back to the doctor.

“Sorry I’m late - “ Fred sat in a chair beside Archie, “hope I didn’t miss too much.”

“Nothing at all,” Ronnie said cheerfully, turning back to the doctor, “Medical or mental issues? I have - anxiety but that’s it. Nothing physical.”

“Do you take pills for your anxiety or other medications?”

The darker haired girl nodded, shifting in her seat. “Yeah, hence why I couldn’t take birth control, but I don’t take any other medications.”

Ronnie reached beside her and gripped Archie’s hand, answering the questions the doctor asked with ease - she’d searched online for questions she might be asked and had written out all of the answers, just to make sure she was prepared. Cheryl had stayed up late with her the night before, asking her all of the questions so Ronnie could make sure she knew all of the answers by memory. 

By the time the ultrasound part came - which Veronica was particularly excited about - her nerves had been almost completely demolished. The questions were the part she was most worried about, but she had seen enough movies to know that this would be the easy part.

She laid back in the bed, lifting her top to reveal her still-flat stomach. Today she had been careful in choosing her clothes, opting for a skirt and a tight shirt. Clearly wearing a dress wouldn’t do well without exposing herself to the doctor - so a skirt and shirt would have to do.

The doctor warned her about the coldness of the gel (which she had heard in movies as well) before spurting it on her stomach, and goosebumps sprouted all over her arms. She turned her head to look at the screen, featuring a blurry, distorted image of the inside of her stomach. She tilted her head, and then looked at Archie, whose brows were furrowed as he stared at the screen.

“Do you know how far along she is?” Fred questioned the doctor. Ronnie looked at him and saw him leaning forward, gazing fondly at the blurry image. 

The doctor stayed silent for a moment, then replied, “I’d say five or six weeks. If the date of contraception is Janurary 12 as she says than that’d be six weeks and three days.” Veronica quickly did the math in her head. January 12 was, sure enough, exactly six weeks and three days away from February 26.

“When can we find out the gender?” Archie piped up, still staring at the screen as though he was trying to find the limbs or something. Ronnie (having done research) knew, of course, the baby was majorly undeveloped, though she still wondered why she couldn’t see anything except what looked like an egg yolk.

“At the next appointment, which should be when she’s about 12 weeks along.” the doctor (Dr. Janeson, Ronnie noted) told him, and then pointed at different areas of the screen, pointing out what they were looking out, and as she spoke, Ronnie noticed a lump growing in her throat.

This was a baby, and somehow the pieces hadn’t connected in Veronica’s mind before that. A baby, a real baby, not just a grainy image on a screen. Soon they’d discover the gender, and maybe talk about names, and then the baby would be in her arms and, god, it would all happen so soon. 

“Ron - we can go - “ Archie stood, and she glanced at him, wiping the tear that had formed in her eye. She nodded and pulled her shirt down, the gel having been wiped off her stomach, and sat up, smiling slightly at Archie. He pulled her up and they walked out, out to the front desk, where they met with Fred.

“Did you already pay?”

She nodded, “When I booked the appointment. Paid online. Thank you,” she added, “for coming, Mr. Andrews, honestly. It means the world.”

“I wouldn’t miss it, Ron.” And Fred reached out and hugged her, and it felt warmer and more fatherly than hugs from her father had ever been and she nearly cried but she held it in. When she pulled away, he pulled Archie in for a hug and then left, claiming he had more work to do, and Ronnie and Archie began to walk out of the hospital to his car, his arm thrown over her shoulder, hers around his torso, until they were both in the car.

He took a breath and started the car, but they stayed in silence for a moment. “Ron, you said, after the appointment, we could talk about what we should do.”

And she burst into tears, covering her hands with her eyes. She leaned forward, pressing her eyes into her palms, thinking of the fact that this was a real baby and she had to decide what to do with it and, as much as Archie said he would do whatever she wanted to, she knew he didn’t really want to keep it. Not now.

“Veronica,” he said softly, and pulled her over the center console, settling her in his lap. She pressed her forehead against his shoulder, hiccuping with sobs, his arms wrapped around her. “Veronica, what’s wrong?”

She waited until she could take a steady breath and then said, shakily, “Archie, I don’t - I - I don’t know what to do.” she wiped her nose with her wrist, sniffling pathetically. “Arch, I know you don’t wanna keep it - “ he opened his mouth to protest but she cut him off. “And - I get it - we’re not even adults, but I - “ Veronica struggled for words, “I can’t get rid of it. I can’t have an abortion, because it’s a baby, Archie, and I thought I’d feel more confident after the appointment but I don’t.”

He didn’t look at her, his hands joined at the small of her back. “Ronnie, I promise to you, I - I wanna keep this baby, okay? Or I don’t want you to have an abortion because - I mean - “

She nodded, leaning in to kiss him lightly, and he reciprocated though it lasted barely a second. “Archie, I can’t not have this baby. I need to - to have it, at least, even if we don’t end up keeping it.”

He put a finger to her lips. “Do you wanna keep it? Like, raise it?”

She furrowed her brows, wrapping her arms around his shoulders, tugging him closer to her. “I think I do, Arch,” she whispered, her voice soft, “but - we’re so young - “

“We can get jobs,” Archie said, “and surely you still have money linked to your name, right?”

She thought, and then nodded. “Enough.”

“How much is enough?”

“A couple hundred grand, from when I was involved in the company.” She’d quit the family company recently in an attempt to distance herself from them, but she still had a lot of money. “But we should still get jobs, both of us. $200,000 is a lot, but, ultimately, it isn’t enough to raise a baby - and where would it live?”

“The baby could technically live at Cheryl’s, since you’ve pretty much moved in there.” Her crying had long since stopped, but Archie’s fierce hold on her hadn’t let up. “And I could just be there a lot - but it seems pretty mandatory for you to live with the baby all the time - “

She chuckled and nodded, gazing up at him. “I think we’re in it deep this time, Archiekins.” she breathed softly, shaking her head. “Let’s just promise not to ditch each other. Okay? We need to be together for this.”

Veronica jokingly stuck out her pinkie and he wrapped his around it, grinning at her before patting the passenger seat. “Come on, Ronnie. Let’s go to Pop’s.”

\--

They sat across from each other, sharing a large hamburger, each holding their own milkshake, enjoying the loveliest, longest chat they’d had since the news about the pregnancy. Archie and Veronica giggled together and laughed and joked and it seemed as though, for a moment, they were as innocent as they’d been when they first met. No one could tell she’d been crying to him in a car thirty minutes earlier. It was one of her many hidden talents - to hide her emotions flawlessly, to go from a sobbing mess to holding her head high in a matter of moments.

The chime of the door at Pop’s rang and Archie glanced over Ronnie’s shoulder at the new customers, and he squirmed in his chair. Ronnie turned around as the door was behind her and saw Betty and Jughead, who had just spotted them and had begun to walk over.

 

“Shit,” Veronica murmured, but then the pair slid into the booth with Archie and Ronnie - Jughead next to Veronica and Betty by Archie.  
“Listen,” the blonde haired girl began, her eyes flicking between the redhead and her darker haired friend, “I’m sorry, alright? Honest. I completely overreacted because - I’m worried for you both.” She glanced at Jughead, who nodded like a father forcing his daughter to apologize. “But - have you checked Instagram? Cheryl’s old friend - Ginger, isn’t that her name? - posted about you.”

Veronica’s face paled and she dug her phone out of her bag, opening the app and going immediately to Ginger’s page. The most recent photo was of her and Archie in the waiting room, her head leaned into his, and she felt a rush of anger flood her.

The photo had 300 likes, and the more she refreshed the page, the higher the amount went. The caption simply read ‘archie and veronica--next on 16 and pregnant’ and Ronnie went to look at the comments but Jughead pulled the phone from her hands.

“I don’t think you wanna do that, Veronica.” he said, and his serious expression made her bury her face in her hands.

“Holy fucking shit.” she groaned, reaching for her phone and shutting it off. “How did she see us? She wasn’t there.”

“Maybe she knew someone else in the room who took the photo.” Archie nibbled on his nail, running a hand through his hair. “Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck.”

“Does everyone know?” Veronica glanced between Betty and Jughead, who nodded sheepishly.

Ronnie stood abruptly. “Well, then, I’m gonna go. Cheryl’s is - a short walk - and I need to talk to her about this.”

She gripped her purse and her phone and turned and stormed out, desperate to talk to her roommate because she knew if anyone had dirt on Ginger, it would be her ex best friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i've never been to an ultrasound so i literally googled what typically occurs during one and tried my best lol. sorry for the late chapter and the mini hiatus between chapters, but i hope you enjoy! remember to follow vcrchiedale on tumblr;)))


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Veronica attends her first day of school with everyone knowing about the baby.

“I can’t BELIEVE her!” Cheryl fumed, sitting cross legged on the sofa, clutching her phone as she scrolled through Ginger’s Instagram comments. “But - Veronica - don’t you worry! I’ll handle Ginger accordingly to make her stop being such a sniving little snake.”

“But, Cheryl, everyone’s already seen it.” Veronica, who sat beside the redhead, attempted for the tenth time to lean her head over to read some of the comments. Cheryl, for the tenth time, turned her phone away from the dark haired teen, but Veronica could see that the amount of likes Ginger had chalked up had reached 500.

Cheryl tapped a finger to her chin. “Oh, Ronniekins, after people see what I do to Ginger, they won’t dare say anything about you and Archie’s lovechild. Just you wait.”

\--

It was a shock, indeed, what Cheryl chose to do. Her twitter (@cherylbombshell) was the most popular in the entirety of both Riverdale and Greendale, and it was her biggest weapon. So, as Veronica laid in bed next to the sleeping ginger at nearly midnight, she saw Cheryl’s twitter feed filled with the original tweet and retweets and parodies of it. A video of Ginger, obviously high (on what Ronnie assumed was Jingle Jangle), making out with a wall, inisisting that the wall she was grinding against was Reggie. Veronica almost felt bad for her, but she looked back at the post with her and Archie, which had gained nearly 1,000 likes, and she felt as though justice was served, based on how many people had seen and retweeted the clip.

However - a big reason Ronnie was so worried about the post - was school the next day. Everyone knew, and the friends she had (which was a small amount, as much as she hated to admit) would definitely stick by her, but what about the others? It would still be embarrassing. But she believed in Cheryl. No one would dare make a comment or an insult. She was sure of it.

When the sun rose, Ronnie had barely an hour of sleep before the alarm on her phone went off. She was sure to shut it off quickly so as not to wake Cheryl (who had rolled onto the floor during the night and had pulled the covers down with her) and she walked to her suitcase, against the wall, and pulled out a fresh new outfit to change into. She grabbed her makeup and strolled into the bathroom, checking the time (5:45) and realizing that she still had another good 45 minutes. Veronica supposed her nerves had forced her to get up instead of sleeping for a bit longer, as she always did.

When she finished her makeup, had spritzed on some perfume, and had done her hair, it was 6:15 and she was due to be off for school (which began at 6:30.) She grabbed her purse and pulled out a can of breathmints, popping one in, before her phone rang with a notification from Archie, offering to drive her to school. She accepted, and within minutes she had stepped out of the apartment and was on the elevator to go to the lobby. 

Archie’s house wasn’t too far from the apartments, and he was there in a matter of minutes. She slid into the passenger seat and smiled at him, leaning over to kiss him gently.

“Are you nervous?” he asked ss he steered onto the road, keeping both his eyes on the road. “About people knowing.”

She shrugged. “I was, and I suppose I still am, a little bit. But I’ve put my trust in Cheryl, and she said she’d personally drag anyone who dared say or do anything down to the depths of hell.”

“I thought only demons could drag people to hell.”

“Would it be any shock if she were one?”

They shared a good laugh for a moment, and Veronica reached over and gripped his hand. “But, no, I’m not worried. As long as I stick with you, and Betty and Juggy and Kev, and Toni and Reggie and Josie - we should be fine.”

The redhead smiled at her and squeezed her hand as he pulled into the school parking lot. “That’s the spirit.”

THey both stepped out of the car and Veronica offered her arm to him and he linked his through it and they entered. Although Veronica would have loved to not attract any unwanted stares, she knew it was inevitable. Luckily she hadn’t begun showing (Google told her that wouldn’t happen for some time with first time mothers, as their muscles hadn’t been stretched out yet) or she knew her round stomach would make everyone stare. She was brought back to when Polly had come to school, for a little while, her stomach showing through her cheerleading uniform, and how everyone’s eyes had been on the oldest Cooper sister.

Soon, Veronica would be the new Polly.

How terrifying.

She could see, near her locker, a crowd formed, and it felt as though a ball had dropped in her stomach. Just like Polly. Was there something on her locker? Of course there was. She dropped Archie’s arms and pushed through the group of people, cursing under her breath. As Veronica came face to face with her locker, the thing she knew was coming had arrived. Written on her locker in thick black Sharpie - the simple word ‘whore,’ which she’d heard before, but it somehow stung much more seeing it, large and handwritten, across the red paint of her locker, but she shrugged. 

(Lodge girls don’t cry. Not in public. Not over something stupid like locker graffiti. Because it didn’t matter.)

(It didn’t matter.)

(It didn’t matter, it didn’t matter, it didn’t matter.)

Archie had pushed his way through the crowd, wrapping an arm around her shoulders, and she resisted the urge not to burst our crying right then.

(It didn’t matter, it didn’t matter, it didn’t matter, it didn’t matter . . . )

“Come on, let’s find the others.” He pulled her away, and she didn’t protest despite needing to get her stuff for her classes. She’d manage. By tomorrow the janitor would have scrubbed the message off and Cheryl will have found the person who did it and posted their secrets online, just like what she did to Ginger.

(IT DIDN’T MATTER.)

The bell rang from overhead, but she didn’t know what it was for. Surely not homeroom, since no one was in their respective classrooms. Maybe the entry bell. It didn’t matter, just like the fucking words on her locker.

(ITDIDNTMATTERITDIDNTMATTER)

But it did matter, didn’t it? To her.

She shivered, and Archie lead her to his locker, where the hallway was mercifully full with people bustling at theirs, but the glances she got were less genuine because her tattooed locker wasn’t there for people to be gawking at.

(They were the pregnant couple.)

The thought was, somehow, so embarrassing, though they’d inflicted it upon themselves, realistically. And, as much as Ronnie wanted to ignore the burning in her throat and behind her eyes, she feared that if she opened her mouth she’d burst into tears and the strong, beautiful marble statue she’d built around herself, one of strength and confidence and wit, would be crumbled in an instance.

“I’m gonna go - bathroom - “ she murmured quietly, and she wasn’t even sure Archie heard her before she slipped away, down the hall, keeping her head down until she got to the one bathroom that no one went into for some reason, and she shut the door and locked it and slid against the door, sinking to the floor, hiccuping and breaking into loud, intense wails. She felt as though the walls were closing in around her, and she tried desperately to keep them from crushing her into nothingness.

Veronica had once heard a story about someone who had been buried alive, and they survived with however much air you have in an enclosed, buried coffin - maybe 8 hours? And, they said, the one thing you can do to keep you from passing quickly is to stay calm. Panicking uses up your limited air. Don’t take deep breaths. Try to preserve your air.

She felt as though she were being buried alive and using up all her air in a matter of minutes, taking deep heaving breaths between sobs that rang in her ears, as loud as the takeoff of a spaceship. Ronnie used her hand to wipe her nose, and a tear dripped onto her hand, and it was dark black, coloured with her dripping mascara. It’s the first time Veronica didn’t care about her ruined makeup (she kept makeup remover wipes and emergency cosmetics in her back) and it was the first time in weeks that she wanted nothing more than to be wrapped in her parents’ arms.

Mainly her father, who hadn’t exactly done anything wrong except not argue with her mother, and she’d always been closer with Hiram anyway. She didn’t think she’d ever be able to look at Hermione the same ever again, which she didn’t mind as much as she expected, but a mother was a mother, and most every daughter craves a mother’s love, especially in the midst of a panic attack.

Ronnie took a gulping breath and glanced around the bathroom. There were two stalls in the pathetically tiny bathroom, and a sink and a full length mirror directly across from where Veronica sat, and she could see herself, dripping mascara and eyeliner and tear streaks in her foundation. 

(What a sight.)

A bell rang, and a quick glance at the clock told her it was 6:55, which was the time for homeroom, and she knew she would be late if she could even clean herself up in time to get there. She stood shakily, gripping the doorknob, her eyes shutting involuntarily as her vision went hazy for just a moment. She must have been in there for longer than she’d thought. Staring at herself in the mirror, she laughed out loud. She looked insane. Black streaks down her cheeks, black outlined eyes dripping down her face. 

(Clean up job time.)

Ronnie grabbed a makeup remover wipe and wiped off the streaks, scrubbing so vigorously until she was sure no traces of it was visible. Then she went about, reapplying concealer and foundation and painting mascara and swooping eyeliner across her eyes. When she glanced at herself in the mirror - and grinned, fake as it may be - and did a twirl, and then laughed, and decided she looked natural, like how she always did.

She unlocked the lock and walked out, down the empty hall and making all the necessary turns to get to her homeroom. When she was at the door, she raised her first and knocked, running a hand through her hair and glancing at her reflection in the foggy windows.

The teacher opened the door, glancing at her suspiciously. “Do you have an excuse for being - “ he checked his watch, “ - ten minutes late?”

Veronica raised her hand and waved it dismissively. “Just a little makeup accident that needed fixing. I assure you it won’t happen again, Mr - “ she racked her mind, taking an especially long time to show him how much she didn’t give a fuck about his name, “ - Meashock, isn’t it.”

It wasn’t a question, but he still nodded, piercing eyes glaring at her, and she walked to the fourth row and slid into her seat, setting her purse in the corner of her desk. Eyes stared at her, wide and unknowing, and she gave a sickly sweet grin like she’d practiced in the mirror.

(What a good actress. They don’t suspect a thing.)

A kid sitting next to Reggie, in the second row, gave a cough that sounded suspiciously like “whore!” and she cursed herself for the intense heat that rose to her cheeks. 

“How would you like to be dead?” she heard the hushed hiss from Reggie, and she grinned triumphantly. The brunette turned around and wiggled his eyebrows at her, and she smiled.

Veronica glanced at the boy sitting near Reggie. His name was (if she remembered correctly) Zack Jianson, and Ronnie was sure Cheryl would know something about him. She wasn’t worried.

She took a deep breath and watched the clock. A few minutes until the end of the class, and then a few more to go and then she was gone. She could do it. It was just another day.

Just. Another. Day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> follow vcrchiedale on tumblr and please send me drabble or headcanon requests!!
> 
> alsoo be sure to leave feedback on this chapter! i'm not tootoo happy with it honestly since its very short and doesn't have much action but...what're you gonna do.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Archie and Veronica have a talk at Pop's.

Veronica woke up on March 9 to a gut wrenching pain in her stomach. She’d been sick before - the burning in her throat, she knew all too well. She pushed herself out of bed and ran down the hall to Cheryl’s bathroom, hunching over the toilet and emptying out the sausage and cheese pizza she’d split with Josie, Cheryl and Archie (who’d come over and spent the night on the couch) the night before. She threw up what felt like an entire month’s worth of food, and when she wasn’t vomiting she leaned back against the wall and cursed the fucking baby who was causing so much sickness. When she was positive the bout of vomit had ended, she stood and grabbed her toothbrush, brushing her teeth to make sure her vomit breath had vanished before returning to the room where she and Cheryl slept. 

The redheaded girl sat up in bed, examining her phone, glancing up at Ronnie as she entered. “You just threw up for, like, ten minutes straight. Do you have an eating disorder or - as I hope - that’s just morning sickness.”

Veronica groaned and reached for her own phone, which sat on the nightstand. “Definitely morning sickness. I feel like I just threw up everything I’ve ever eaten.” It was 5:03 a.m, which was earlier than she’d ever had to wake before, even on a school day. The sun was hardly up. “It’s safe to assume that Archie didn’t wake up, did he?” That boy could sleep through a marching band, truly.

Cheryl rolled her eyes, setting her phone down. “People across town probably woke up to your projectile vomiting, but if he’s awake, he didn’t make a noise.”

Ronnie stuck out her tongue and walked down the hall to the living room, with a couch, a TV, and a table which had been pushed against the wall so that Archie could pull out the couch. (Originally, there had been a debate as to whether Archie or Cheryl should sleep on the bed, where Cheryl adamantly refused not to leave her bed even if it meant that Veronica and Archie would sleep together. Veronica insisted they wouldn’t sleep-sleep together but Cheryl claimed she didn’t trust them not to defile her bed, so Archie slept on the bed.) (Then there was another debate about whether Ronnie would sleep with Archie or Cheryl, and the latter, once again, said she’d kick Archie out if Ronnie didn’t sleep in the same bed as her, because she didn’t want her couch to be defiled, either.) Archie was still asleep, seemingly, the sheets kicked down to his feet. He’d slept in his clothes, a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt, due to the raging cold apartment and Cheryl’s downright refusal to turn up the thermostat. Ronnie smiled at his sleeping state and turned to leave before he turned around, facing her with a grin.

“Morning, Veronica.” he said groggily, reaching out a hand to her. She walked over to him and sat beside him, gripping his larger hand with her tiny one. “Why are you up so early?”

“I could ask you the same thing,” she arched one dark eyebrow. “But I got sick, Archiekins.”

Archie lifted his head and furrowed his brows at her, “What? Are you sick?”

“It’s morning sickness. Did you not hear it? Cheryl said it was grossly loud.” 

(Not her exact words, but it didn’t matter.)

He let his head drop to the pillow. “Nope, I didn’t. I woke up literally right when you came in.”

Ronnie ran a hand through his hair, and he smiled, shutting his eyes. “That feels nice.”

She slid next to him, molding her body against his, and he wrapped an arm around her, holding her to him. She shut her eyes and mumbled, “you know what sounds good right now?”

“Pop’s?”

“No, staying here for the rest of the day.” A beat passed. “Pop’s sounds good, too.”

He chuckled and leaned down to kiss her. She groaned, “Does my mouth taste like vomit?”

“No, it tastes like mint toothpaste. And we can’t skip, Ron. Education is key.”

Veronica kissed him again, slightly relieved that her post-puke breath didn’t taste as awful as she expected. “Can’t we go to Pop’s before school? A date filled with cheeseburgers and milkshakes with my Archiekins sounds like the perfect start to a schoolday.”

“Let me get dressed and we can go, as much as having cheeseburgers and milkshakes for breakfast is probably frowned upon.” he rolled over and out of the bed, and Ronnie stood up and stretched her arms, yawning dramatically

“I’ll go change. Give me twenty minutes,” and she turned and walked back down the hall, feeling as though she was floating on a cloud. Seeing Archie, somehow, gave her that effect, despite having been dating him for over a year. She felt as though she were flying, a grin gracing her face, as she entered her shared room with Cheryl and grabbed a dress from her bag.

“You guys are honestly pathetic,” her roommate mused, setting her phone down on the nightstand and burrowing herself back in the covers of the bed. “Why are you getting dressed now? You don’t have school for, like, an hour.”

“I’m going to Pop’s with Archie.” Ronnie grinned, and Cheryl fake gagged.

“You two have fun. Go desecrate the booths at Pop’s, if you want.”

Ronnie rolled her eyes and went to the bathroom, still inhabited by her makeup, and changed quickly. As she slid into her heels, she ran a hand over her stomach, which was still as flat as it had been before she was pregnant. She turned to her side, looking in the mirror, just to make sure there really wasn’t anything there, and she sighed in near disappointment. Of course there wouldn’t be anything there, because she was only - what? - maybe 8 weeks along. Veronica completely dreaded when she would start showing, and reasonably so - her clothes wouldn’t fit her, which would really suck, and then everyone would know, because it would be clear just from looking at her. But - she couldn’t help being excited about it, because it would be real then. There would actually be a baby.  
(There already was one, dumbass.)

Veronica grabbed foundation from her bag and began to apply it, her eyes occasionally glancing to her torso, as if a round stomach would magically appear. Maybe she’d notice something from a different angle? She sighed and moved on to concealer when there was a knock at the door.

“Ron, you ready?”

She sighed, “Five minutes!”

Archie murmured ‘mhm’ from outside, and she worked faster on her makeup until she was done, and then she swung open the door.

“See?” she smiled. “Five minutes.”

“That was eight minutes, but alright.”

She waved her hand and walked back into her and Cheryl’s room to grab her phone and her purse. The ginger haired girl had slipped an mask over her eyes and was seemingly sleeping soundly, and Ronnie moved softly so as not to wake her. She slipped back into the hall and lead Archie out of the apartment and to the elevators.

As the doors dinged, they stepped inside and Archie clicked the button for the ground floor. “It’s strange to see Cheryl living in such a tiny apartment, isn’t it?” he questioned. “It’s a downgrade to go from Thornhill to a little place like this.”

Ronnie shrugged as the doors open and they walked out. “Really, it’s not that small. There’s an extra room that she’s turning into another bedroom - for me, of course. So that’ll be two bedrooms and one bathroom. And, honestly, the living room and kitchen are both pretty large.”

He held up his hands in surrender as they walked outside and both slid into the car. He pulled out of the lot and began driving to Pop’s. “Alright, alright. It’s nice, though.”

“Definitely not Thornhill, you’re right.” Ronnie pressed her cheek against the window, feeling the cold material meet her skin. “Nor the Pembrooke, even.”

As soon as she said the name of the fancy hotel, her mood dropped. The Pembrooke, the best place she’d ever lived in, because it was small and simple but it was where she met her best friends, and the love of her life, and she missed it so much, despite the memories she’d made the last time she was there.

Archie looked over at her and placed one hand on her knee, and she glanced at him and smiled. “Ron, I have no doubt your parents will learn to forgive you.”

“You don’t know them, Archie. They’re not like your dad, as much as I wish they were. They don’t forgive easily.” she took a breath as Archie pulled into Pop’s. “I have faith in my dad, because he knows I forgave him after he got arrested and - I think he’ll return the favour for me, now. And I’ve always been closer to him than with my mom. She’s - well, you saw how she reacted.”

She shook her head and opened the car door, and Archie followed, and the pair entered Pop’s. They sat at a booth and Archie reached out to take Ronnie’s hand.

“It’s fine, Arch. Nothing for you to worry about. Does your mom know?”

He gave her a stare, but clearly he decided not to push the issue and instead said, “No, she doesn’t. I specifically told my dad not to tell her, but she’s coming down next month. I plan to tell her then.”

“Should I be there for that? I’ve never actually met her.” A waiter came and gave them their shakes, the same flavours they always got - strawberry for Archie and chocolate for Ronnie. 

“Yeah, you should. I think it’s best to hear these things from both parties, you know?” he took a sip. “My mom will be supportive. She’s like my dad. And she’s always loved kids - I mean, she would distance herself at family parties to play with me and my cousins when we were younger.”

Ronnie tilted her head. “Why didn’t she have any more?”

Archie shrugged. “No clue. Maybe my dad didn’t want any more.”

Veronica thought for a moment and then said, “Well, I guess your mom will be happy. That’s good. I want her to like me.”

“You’re different from the other girls I’ve dated that she’s met. The only other girl was Betty, who I dated when I was 9, so I think you’re a sharp contrast.”

She laughed quietly, sipping her milkshake. “Do you think it’s the pregnancy cravings, or do the milkshakes taste much better today?”

Archie took an extra long sip and said, “They taste the same as they usually do, Ronnie.” He raised his voice and made it sound babyish. “Is little Ronnie having her first craving?”

She reached over and smacked his arm, laughing. “Shut up! Soon it’ll get worse, and then you’ll have to go out at the late hours of the night and get whatever strange things I feel the need to eat.”

“Fair enough.” He drained the last drop of his milkshake and pushed the glass forwards, watching a drop of liquid drip down the side of the cup. “But still. What else do you crave right now?”

(You, she wanted to say, because the urge to push him up against a wall was strong.)

“Nothing right now.” she glanced at her phone. “Should we go to school?”

She took the last sip of her milkshake and stood. She stuck a hand out and he grabbed it, and she pulled him to his feet.

“Yeah, sure.” 

She interlocked his fingers with hers and they walked out, back to his car and off to school.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is legit just a filler chapter so it isnt that great:(( follow vcrchiedale and submit prompts to me!


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Veronica reviews her feelings for Cheryl while helping her get ready for a date.

The next month seemed to pass without any issues, whether they be from Ginger or the baby or Hermione and Hiram. According to Veronica’s phone, she was about 3 months along, which shocked her to a certain extent. It felt as though she found out yesterday - and she was ⅓ of the way through the pregnancy, roughly. 

Cheryl, in that month time period, had turned the spare room in her apartment into a room for Veronica, complete with a large bed, a wardrobe, a nightstand, a mirror, and a large window. There was a lot of free space in her new room, which was nice, as Cheryl suggested Ronnie could put a crib there - if her and Archie hadn’t gotten their own place by the time the baby arrived, of course. (Ronnie didn’t think they would, truthfully.) She thanked Cheryl to no end, because honestly, Cheryl was being just about the most supportive person in her life at the moment, aside from Archie. When Veronica asked how, how in the world, could she repay the ginger, Cheryl replied,

“Let me come to your doctor’s appointments! I would love nothing more than to see the unborn child of Riverdale’s very own Ronald Weasley and Wednesday Addams.”

So Ronnie had accepted, not questioning why she was Wednesday Addams.

Meanwhile, Archie had begun working at Fred’s construction company (‘I thought you already worked there?,’ Ronnie questioned him, but Archie said that he’d now be working longer, harder, and for pay. So.) an Ronnie had been trying to snag a job at Pop’s, as a waitress, but she hadn’t gotten anything yet. She still had the $200,000 which she could use to propel herself until she managed to find a job, though, ideally, she’d find somewhere to work in order to have a bit of wiggle room in her budget.

(God, she sounded like an adult.)

“Earth to Veronica!” Cheryl snapped her fingers in front of Ronnie’s face, and the Latina jumped, cursing to herself. “Are you even listening to me right now?”

“Uh - yeah. Yeah, I’m listening.” Veronica tilted her head up towards Cheryl, who paced in front of where Ronnie sat on the couch. Cheryl had come home early (for her, at least) and dragged Veronica out of bed to discuss an event that had happened that she was oh so worried about. 

Cheryl crossed her arms, eyes flashing. “Tell me what I just said.” When Veronica opened her mouth a few times, her mind drawing a blank, the redhead groaned. “Little Miss Juno needs a fucking hearing aid. Come on, Ronnie. I’m in distress!”

Ronnie took a breath and straightened up. “Yes, yes, okay. I’m sorry. I’m listening. You have my fullest attention.”

“Toni asked me out. Like, on a date. To the movies! I said I’d think about it, because I didn’t wanna seem like I was too excited, you know?” Cheryl’s grin was enough to put one on Veronica’s face, despite a pit of - something - growing in her stomach. “I’m going to text her. Should I say yes? When should I go? You’ll help me get ready for it, right? I think my hands will be shaking too much to be able to do my eyeliner in a perfect wing.”

Veronica’s palms began to sweat, and she swallowed and stared up at Cheryl with that perfect grin she’d managed. “Cheryl! That’s so great. Text her now, tell her you’d be glad to go. What about tomorrow night? And of course I’ll help you.” It was everything Cheryl needed to hear, and the ginger leaned down and kissed Ronnie’s cheek before turning and leaving the sitting room, leaving Ronnie alone, just with her thoughts.

(She has Archie. She loves Archie, so much, more than the wind and the moon and the sun all combined. So why does she feel so - jealous?)

Maybe it was because Cheryl had been there for her. Her and Cheryl were best friends. She didn’t want Cheryl to get hurt.

When Betty started dating Jughead, Ronnie was worried about her getting hurt. It didn’t feel like this. It didn’t - hurt.

(No. No! She was just worried.)

Veronica thought about how happy Cheryl was, how often she’d talked about her interest in Toni, and she immediately felt a rush of guilt. Cheryl and Toni would be great together. Cheryl’s wished Toni would ask her out forever. Ronnie should feel happy for her.

So she will. She’ll be the happiest girl ever, because Cheryl deserves it. Cheryl deserves Toni, and Ronnie’s happiness, and everything else in the world.

(Suck it up, Ron. Be happy for her.)

“We’re going to the movies at 7PM tomorrow!” Cheryl shouted from the room, and Ronnie yelled back her approval (not that Cheryl would need it) and leaned back on the couch.

(Be. Happy.)

\--

“Toni asked out Cheryl,” Ronnie told Archie at Pop’s the next day. “They’re going to the movies tonight. Cheryl asked me to help her get ready, because she said she’d be too nervous. That’s cute, right?”

Archie bit the straw of his milkshake, nodding. “Yeah. I mean, sometimes when I’m at the apartment I hear Cheryl talking about Toni so much. I guess she really likes her, hmm?”

Veronica bit her lip, “Yeah, she does. I’m happy for her.”

He cocked his head. “Why do you look like that?”

“That’s my face, Archie.”

“No, you’re making a weird expression. When you talked about Cheryl and Toni, you made a weird expression.”

Veronica raised an eyebrow. “No, babe, you’re seeing things. Believe me, I’m unimagineably happy for them. I mean, I don’t think Cheryl’s really ever been in a serious relationship with someone - not as far as I know - so this is new for her. I don’t want her to get hurt.”

“Well, we know Toni. She’d never hurt Cheryl. She likes Cheryl, too - she has for a while.” Archie shrugged. “I trust them both to handle themselves, you know?”

Ronnie nodded, swallowing a large gulp of her chocolate milkshake and pausing for a moment. “Yeah, you’re right.” They sat in silence for a moment before Archie reaching across the table and grabbing her hand, and she gave him a grin.

“Don’t be worried, Veronica. They might not even start dating.”

She cocked her brow, and he laughed. “Okay, they probably will, but there’s a chance they’ll decide they hate each other. And then no one really gets hurt, except for their egos.”

“You’re right. I know.” She leaned across the table and kissed him lightly before settling back in her seat. Being with Archie, now, made her positive that she’d never want to be with anyone else - not even Cheryl, though she’d always harbour fantasies about the fellow ginger.

(Was that it? She liked Cheryl because she was a redhead, like her Archiekins?)

That’s it! Not a big deal at all.

“I love you, Arch.” She smiled, and he smiled back and then they kissed again and Veronica felt that the problem was solved, somehow.

\--

It wasn’t solved.

When Veronica retreated back to the apartment at 5:30 to start helping Cheryl, the girl was digging through her closet and snarling insults when Veronica offered to help, and Ronnie knew it wasn’t solved.

“Cheryl, just let me help.”

“Sit down, Pansy Parkinson, I can do this by myself.”

So Veronica sat down at Cheryl’s vanity and examined her makeup while trying not to think about the fact that she was helping her go on a date with Toni Topaz.

When Cheryl had (finally) decked herself out in a skirt with heels, Veronica told her to sit herself down because it was 6:00 and Veronica knew from experience that it would take forever to do Cheryl’s makeup as the Blossom would have the stylist redo her entire face if any part of the look got messed up.

As Veronica began to swipe on foundation, Cheryl drummed her nails against her vanity.. “Are you excited?” Veronica questioned, and Cheryl rolled her eyes.

“Does being pregnant make you lose 10 brain cells every day? Yes, I’m excited. I mean, I’ve liked Toni for a while but I never suspected she’d ever like me back, because we’re so different, you know? But, like everyone else, she likes me!”

Ronnie rolled her eyes as she started on concealer. “Would you keep still?” she huffed as Cheryl kept fidgeting, and it occurred to Veronica that she’d never seen Cheryl like this before, and, truthfully, it made her happy. Cheryl deserved this, more than anything in the world. She deserved a nice date with a girl she really, really liked, one who made her into a fidgeting, nervous mess.

“I hope she likes me more once she gets to know me, too. We’ve talked, but kind of like how you and the raccoon boy talk.” Veronica had heard Cheryl use that nickname so much that she knew she meant Jughead. “Not really, but we do.”

“She’ll love you, Cheryl. You’ll wow her, with your fabulous makeup done by your wonderful best friend.”

The redhead rolled her eyes as Veronica painted eyeliner on her eyes, using everything in her power to make the wing perfect, because it needed to be perfect, because this date with Toni had to be perfect so that Cheryl and Toni would date and Veronica wouldn’t harbour a hidden crush on Cheryl.

She thought of Archie, strumming a guitar, kissing her, read hair and beautiful eyes, tall and muscular, and she felt a rush of heat flood her body. He was the one for her. Everything about him was perfect to her, and the fact that she ws really, truly, having a baby with him made her insides squirm, because it was so perfect, though the timing was anything but that. There was no one else she’d rather have a baby with.

“Veronica, come on, continue. We only have another, like, half hour, and I don’t want to keep Toni waiting.” Cheryl snapped, and Veronica jumped but continued her work on Cheryl, painting on highlighter, contour, bronzer, and adding her signature bright red lipstick.

“You look lovely, Cher.” Veronica grinned down at her friend. “Now go wow your little Serpent girl.” Cheryl stood and wrapped her arms around Ronnie, thanking her before grabbing her phone and ducking out of the apartment in giddy skips that were so unlike her Ronnie wondered if she had been possessed.

Be happy, Ron. Cheryl and Toni will fall in love, because they’re so compatible, and Veronica and Archie will have their baby and get married, because, God, Veronica would love nothing more than to spend the rest of her life with Archie Andrews. And, in the future, she’d think of this moment, of her watching Cheryl leave for her date with Toni, who (in the future) will be her wife, and she’ll look at Archie and their kids and wonder how she ever could have felt jealous of Toni Topaz’s date with Cheryl Blossom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im sorry for all the non cheronica shippers reading this, but truthfully, seeing as this is a varchie fanfiction, having mentions of ronnie's hidden feelings for cheryl isn't that serious. and i love them!   
> follow vcrchiedale on tumblr :-))


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Veronica and Archie tell their friends about the gender.

Ronnie woke up in her bed in her shared apartment, the covers pulled up over her head, and she wondered if she had fallen asleep in a sheet fort, and the thought made her laugh. There was a deeper laugh from behind her, and Veronica whipped around to see Archie, pressed against her, still completely asleep, seemingly. His arms were wrapped around her waist, one hand pressed against her growing stomach (the stomach she’d freaked out about once she noticed a small bulge, proof of the growing baby inside of her) and his other was resting under her head. 

She took a minute to appreciate his appearance, messy red hair, shut eyes and dark black lashes, before reaching for her phone on the nighstand. It was Thursday, and 4:07 PM. As soon as Archie and Veronica came from school to her apartment they took a nap, for about an hour, but Cheryl and Ronnie had decided to invite over their group of friends at 5, so Ronnie knew they couldn’t sleep for long. She was shocked that she’d managed to wake up before then, and she was surprised that Cheryl wasn’t there - but Cheryl had rarely been at the apartment since her date with Toni, when they officially began dating and the ginger spent all of her time with the Serpent. Ronnie had a particuarly vivid image of what Cheryl and Toni did 80% of the time - once, she’d been over to deliver Cheryl’s phone charger (Cheryl had texted her proclaiming she desperately needed it but she couldn’t go home, not now, of course, and would Veronica please bring it over to Toni’s house? She could come right in and lay it on the table.) so Veronica had gotten to the house and opened the door and caught the pair in an intimate position, so she dropped the charger and shut the door and raced back out to the car, wishing she could wash her mind out with bleach to forget that image.

Veronica rolled out of bed, sneaking out of Archie’s arms and biting her lip to keep from laughing as he turned around, not even noticing the missing weight in his arms. She walked into the bathroom, cringing immediately at her appearance. She knew her pillow was probably smeared with remnants of her makeup, and Ronnie took out her makeup and began fixing what had been removed - occasionally she turned to the side to admire her stomach, which had a small bulge not too noticeable, but noticeable enough for her. Her eyes had been searching hungrily in that area for weeks, desperately hoping something would show up. And it finally had! Proof that a growing baby was there.

Veronica’s grin spread wider. The gender reveal appointment had been yesterday, and that was, honestly, why they had called this friendly get together. Cheryl, with her promise to be at every appointment, already knew the gender and had promised not to say anything to anybody, but Ronnie wouldn’t be surprised if Toni was a little bit too surprised at the reveal.

As she finished up her makeup, she adjusted her outfit - a black dress with a white collar that showcased her stomach perfectly - amd finally she went back into her room to wake up Archie, though it was unneeded. Her boyfriend sat up in bed, scrolling through his phone, and he smiled at her when he saw her.

“Morning, Ron.” he reached out and grabbed her arm and pulled her to him, kissing her, and she kissed back with a small grin, resting her hand on his neck.

“It’s 4 in the afternoon, Archiekins. Now get dressed - we have people coming over, remember?” Veronica kissed him again before pulling away, rolling her eyes as he groaned.

“Ronnnnnnnie,” he sighed, dragging out the ‘n’ in her nickname for a ridiculously long amount of time. “Can’t we just stay in and relish in the fact that we’re having a - “

“Archiekins,” she raised her eyebrows. “We need to share our joy with our friends. Fix yourself up, you bum.” Archie laughed out loud, and she began to laugh with him.

He stood up and she watched as he stretched, his shirt littered on the ground. He smirked at her as he leaned down, picked his top up and put it back on before running a hand through his hair and proclaiming to his girlfriend that he was ready.

She rolled her eyes, again, but walked over and slid her arms around his torso, leaning up to kiss him chastly. “Mmm, I love you, Archie. I can’t wait until we’re parents.”

He smiled, and she appreciated how genuine it was, and how truly happy he seemed. “I can’t wait either. Really, Veronica. I’ve always been excited but I really, really can’t wait.”

Veronica’s heart nearly melted as she stared at him, the mutual love and adoration they had for each other shining into their eyes like a mirror. She thought about Cheryl, for a moment, and she wondered how she could ever have thoughts about her best friend when her and Archie had moments like this, where she looked at him and thought that she’d never, ever want to be without him, and wondered how she could have lived so long without him. “You’re going to be a great dad, Archiekins. Your dad has set a beautiful example for you.”

“I know. He’s the reason I’m so confident about - parenting, I guess. And you’ll be a great mom, despite - “

“Not having the best example set for me.” Ronnie looked at the ground. “I know. Even before disowning me and kicking me out of my house, my mother was never the best.” she shrugged. “I’ll pledge to do better for our kids.”

“And I promise I won’t give any of our kids concussions, even if I did it accidentally.” Archie kissed her head, and she laughed.

The door to the apartment suddenly opened and Ronnie and Archie broke apart, glancing at who had just come in. It was Cheryl and Toni, of course, and the former smiled at the pair.

“I hope I wasn’t interrupting a riveting romantic moment between Riverdale’s very own Peter Pan and Buttercup.” Cheryl gave her classic red lipped, white toothed smile, and Veronica smiled involuntarily.

(There are those feelings again.)

(Knock those feelings of infidelity out of your mind and focus on the facts. Cheryl and Toni are desperately into each other, and moments ago you wanted to wrap yourself up in Archie so much that it nearly caused you pain.)

“Don’t worry, Cherry.” Veronica replied to her roommate, watching the redhead roll her eyes at the nickname. “You’re a bit early, aren’t you?”

Toni sat on the sofa, and Cheryl raised a brow and said, “I live here, Ronniekins.”

“I meant Toni, numbnut.”

“I could say the same thing about Archie,” Toni raised a brow at the ginger, who shrugged and sat beside her.

Veronica grinned. “True, true. Betty’ll probably be here in a minute, and knowing her, she’ll drag Juggie with her.”

A knock at the door made Toni raise her brows, and Ronnie swung open the door to reveal the classic blonde and brunette, just as she’d expected. She welcomed Jughead and Betty into the apartment and watched as they sat on the couch, the two person couch now completely squished.

“I didn’t realize how few chairs we had in this living room.” Cheryl mused as she watched her girlfriend, Archie, Juggie and Betty try to arrange themselves on the couch so that everyone could fit comfortably.

A knock sounded again, and once the door was open Kevin entered, followed by Reggie, and then Josie, and the small living room was completely packed with their evergrowing friend group.

Archie pulled Veronica onto his lap, and most everyone else sat on the ground or pulled a chair from the kitchen. Cheryl ordered three pizzas - plain, pepperoni, and sausage - and instantly the room was filled with conversation - about Josie’s singing, about the Blue and Gold, about how near the end of the school year was. Ronnie engaged herself into a heated debate with Jughead about Truman Capote’s work, and Archie and Reggie talked about football and the new warmups the coach was having them too, and Josie and Betty and Kevin talked about how scarce opportunities were for Josie to sing at gigs with Betty and Kevin eagerly making suggestions, and Toni and Cheryl had a conversation among themselves that involved a bit more spit swapping than necessary.

When there was a knock for the pizzas, Reggie rushed to open the door, and he set the pies down on the coffee table while Cheryl went to the kitchen to get money and paper plates. Everyone dug in, Jughead practically inhaling the pepperoni piece he got, and Veronica nearly cried when she caught a whiff of plain, cheese pizza. Archie laughed as she moaned when she took a bite, murmuring something about the noise she made that made her laugh and smack his arm. Within moments, half of all of the pies were gone, and Toni smacked Jughead for eating the last piece of pepperoni, and Veronica ate her third piece of sausage, and Josie ate the crust of Cheryl’s plain piece. Veronica looked around at all of her best friends and felt insanely happy, in the apartment she shared with her best friend, curled on her boyfriend’s lap and carrying his child, and although that particular bit wasn’t ideal, it still felt so great.

Archie manuevered himself and stood, clapping his hands together, and everyone’s conversations slowed as he began to speak. “So, Veronica and I want to say - “

Veronica’s cheeks flushed bright pink even if he was just speaking in front of her friends. The thought of telling them the baby’s gender made her insides squirm, despite the fact that it wasn’t that serious, and it wasn’t that big of a deal, but she was still oddly nervous.

“Veronica and I found out the gender of the baby yesterday.” Betty straightened up, and Cheryl smirked in an ‘I know more than you’ type of way (which she did) and Josie nearly squealed. Kevin reached up and smacked Ronnie’s knee, and the brunette laughed. “We’re having a girl!”

The reaction from their friends was instant, as Reggie lifted his fist up and hollered, and Josie jumped onto Veronica’s lap and hugged her so tight that Veronica feared their daughter might have died from the force of it. Betty nearly burst into tears as Jughead clapped Archie’s shoulder, and Kevin slapped her knee again, and Toni congratulated them, but from the way she glanced at Cheryl, Veronica knew Toni had already know, but she didn’t care, because she was having a girl and now everyone knew and it was a girl, a real baby girl.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aha i hope you enjoyed!!!!
> 
> 1.) please read the one shot i posted, five times veronica almost had sex and one time she did. it's very sad and involves attempted rape/pedophilia so please be cautious if you think you could be triggered by any of those things. please leave a comment on both this story and that one:-)  
> 2.) of course follow @vcrchiedale on tumblr


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Veronica and Archie tell Mary about the baby.

For the third night this week, Veronica went to sleep and woke up, panting, sweating, because of her dreams. Ones about her parents, and about her and Archie treating their daughter like Hiram and Hermione taught her. She never realized how awful they were to her until she relived it in her nightmares.

When she’d wake up, she’d have to unstick her pajama top from her sweaty torso. (The top is one of Archie’s, Ronnie notes. It has the Nirvana logo printed on it, and on the back, in silver sharpie, is Betty’s name in loopy, cursive writing, and when Veronica asked about the signature Archie turned red and explained that he’d gotten the shirt from Betty and told her to tattoo it so he’d forever remember his best friend. Veronica would remember that, and always tell herself that, the next day, she’d give it back to him, but she never remembered in the morning.) The shirt was big, even with her enlarged stomach, which seemed to grow a bit larger every day, but she appreciated the size it was now. Veronica was only 20 weeks, and the bulge wasn’t too large, but it wasn’t too small.

Veronica would reflect on her dreams, always, and exactly what had occurred. Archie and her, standing in a kitchen, talking to a girl who decreased from a teenager to a preteen to a toddler to a baby, and when she was hardly a month old Archie would jump on her, and Veronica would slap her, and then pick her up and throw her out the window. Then the baby would be back, now just two years old, and Veronica and Archie left the house, left, left, left, and only returned when their daughter was nearly 10. A subtle nod to her parent’s absence, and Ronnie remembered on her twelfth birthday when her father had looked at her and questioned when she got so big, and she wanted to scream that he’d been in meetings for her entire childhood. She got so big when he turned his back on her.

Once, she’d woken up with a scream, one that ripped through the apartment and made her hug her legs to her chest and cry. Veronica had dreamt of Archie, being taken away in handcuffs, and their daughter watching, and Archie tackled her, and she fell to the ground with a thump that still rang in Ronnie’s mind. Cheryl raced into Ronnie’s room, and turned on the light and sat beside Veronica and held her as she cried. 

Ronnie wondered why she was dreaming about her parents so much, but inwardly she did know. Archie had invited her to have dinner with his father and mother, and Veronica was desperate to make a good impression. She’d never met Mary before while she was dating Archie - not to mention, she was pregnant. She didn’t want Archie to lose his mother like she’d lost hers.

As she adjusted her bowtie on her black and white dress and smoothed over the fabric of the skirt, she found herself nearly fanatical about making a perfect impression. She applied dark red lipstick, then wiped it off and opted for dark purple, and then tried on the dark red again to see what looked better with her outfit. Similarly, she slid on a pair of black heels, and then flats, and then heels again, deciding she looked professional with them on.

“Oh my god, Snow White, do you need your birds to help you get ready?” Cheryl rolled her eyes from her spot on Veronica’s bed, where she watched the brunette freak out about her appearance. She set her phone on her stomach and sat up, back resting against the headboard. “You’ve already met Mrs. Archie, albeit not in this - way,” Cheryl waved a hand at Veronica, her eyes flitting to her bulging stomach, “but she seemed to like you, correct?”

“I talked to her for a minute, at the most, Cheryl.” Veronica turned around and then twirled for her best friend, noting her nod of approval. “Do I look like a sophisticated girlfriend for Archie? The kind his mother would adore and take on spa days and love like her own daughter?”

Cheryl arched one ginger coloured eyebrow. “You look like Juno if she were raised by millionaires. Which is good, obviously, because everyone likes Juno.”

Ronnie sighed and grabbed her phone off her vanity (one with lights around the edges of the built in mirror, one that Betty had given her after she redid her room and got a new one) before exiting the bedroom and heading to the kitchen. Sitting on the counter was a container of cookies she’d baked with Cheryl, an hour or two before. Cheryl did most of the work, because Veronica was a comically bad cook and baker alike, inheriting none of her mother’s talents to make the most tender delicacies. Of course, Ronnie would take full credit to Mary, Fred and Archie, because being a good baker was something that would surely make Mary love her.

She grabbed the container and rested her phone on top of it, shouting a quick bon voyage to Cheryl before setting out into the hall, to the elevator and outside. The eather was progressing into May weather as April closed into the next month, and the sun shone on her skin. She set off, on foot, for Archie’s, as she didn’t have her own car and she had no one to drive her. Pretty much everywhere in Riverdale was walking distance away - or, even if the distance she hoped to go was too far, she’d always have somone to drive her.

The Andrews lived just a few streets away. She could make the trip is ten minutes, at least.

As she set off down the street, she stowed the container of cookies beneath her arm and scrolled through her phone until she turned onto the street that she knew Archie lived on. A large, blue Range Rover sat in Archie’s driveway, and Veronica knew it was Mary’s. She walked up the walkway and rapped the door, drumming her foot expectantly. The door opened a moment later, and Veronica grinned at Fred Andrews and wrapped an arm around him in a hug. He rested one hand at the small of her back, kissing her cheek, before welcoming her inside.

“I made cookies,” Veronica handed out the container to her boyfriend’s father, and he took it with a smile and a raised eyebrow. “Well, Cheryl basically made them, and I helped and tried not to burn down the kitchen.”

Fred laughed out loud, the same type of torso tickling chuckle that Archie had inherited from him. “That sounds more like the Veronica Lodge that I know. Arch and Mary are in the kitchen.”

She tossed her dark black locks behind her and set off for the kitchen, where she could hear Archie, laughing and talking with his mother, and sure enough, Ronnie saw the two gingers sitting at the island.

“Ron,” Archie turned to face her and then stood, wrapping one arm around her and kissing her head, and she smiled. She watched as Mary stood and walked around the counter. She leaned in and kissed Ronnie’s cheek.

“I’ve heard way too much about you. Veronica Lodge, right?” Veronica nodded approvingly, her stomach flipping with nerves. “Yes, I knew your parents in school.”

Veronica inhaled sharply and then laughed, shaking her head. “I hope you don’t judge me based off of them. I like to think I’m quite different than my parents were back then.”

Mary paused, and then laughed along with the raven haired teenager. “I don’t mean to offend, but I hope you’re different than them too.”

Hearing her say that made Veronica’s heart break, just a bit, because it meant that her parents were actually, genuinely as awful in school as they were now, but she grinned as Fred set the cookies on the table and sat next to Mary, and Archie sat beside Ronnie. 

It seemed, miraculously, that Mary hadn’t noticed Ronnie’s stomach, but she’d purposely worn something that wouldn’t show it so much. A dress that was just a bit flow-y. 

“I hope you enjoy the cookies. My roommate, Cheryl, made them, to be honest - I’m a terrible cook.” Ronnie reached for the container and opened it, grabbing a chocolate chip cookie and taking a bite.

Everyone took one and collectively approved of the taste, and Veronica’s cheeks flushed. This evening was going stellar. She was so desperate to meet Mary’s approval that every smile the older woman gave felt like butterflies erupting in the depths of her stomach.

“These are good, Ron. Really good.” Archie said, helping himself to another.

“I’ll tell Cheryl.” The pair exchanged a smile,

Fred cleared his throat, and Veronica glanced over at him. “I believe you two have something you need to tell Mary?”

Veronica cringed at his words. Sure, he was right, and it would be good to get the announcement out of the way early in the evening, but the way he worded it … it sounded as though they were children, being reprimanded by authority. ‘Do you have something you need to say?’ Children, with tears running down their cheeks like train tracks, would utter out a choked apology to whoever they’d wronged.

It wasn’t the same, and Ronnie knew that, but she still wished he’d worded it differently, because it sounded like he was addressing children.

(He was.)

The thought was unsettling.

“Um - Mary - uh - “ Veronica shifted, and the mood shifted with her. Mary’s gaze darted between Veronica and Fred, and then to Archie, and Archie slid his hands beneath his thighs.

“Mom, Veronica and I - we needed to tell you that - “ Archie cleared his throat, and Veronica gripped the arm of her chair in an attempt to steady herself. “Veronica’s - um - pregnant. With a girl.”

Veronica wanted to reach out and smack him, and she glanced at Mary, whose mouth had dropped, eyes filling with tears as she rested one hand over her mouth. Fred placed a hand on her shoulder, and Veronica reached for another cookie.

“I - Arch - you’re so young. You’re so - “ Mary swallowed, gripping onto the island, and Fred stood to get her a cup of water. She took a sip as soon as it was set in front of her before turning her attention back to the teens. “How do you possibly expect to have a baby when you’re - 17?”

Ronnie’s eyes rolled to the ceiling, and she felt the familiar sensation of fainting, but she knew she didn’t, nor did she even begin to. Archie reached out and set a hand on her knee, and she rested her hand overtop of it.

“Mary - “ Fred began, but Veronica didn’t listen. She glanced at Archie, who had rested his elbow on the table and chin on his open palm. She sighed, rubbing her forehead.

“Veronica, I really do think you should go.”

Those were the words she heard, spoken by Mary, obviously, because she knew neither Fred nor Archie would say that. She pushed her chair back immediately, but Fred raised a hand, motioning for her to remain seated.

“Mary, honestly - “

“No, she should go, Fred. Honestly.” Mary nodded, ginger curls bouncing with every shake of her head, and Veronica stood back up, gripping her phone.

“I - I’m sorry,” Veronica said, and she felt her heart crumble inside her as she stared at Mary, and then outside, where it had started to rain.

(The forecasts said it was supposed to stop in two hours. Veronica had expected to stay at the Andrews’ house until then.)

“Ron, no, you should stay.” Fred said sternly, but Veronica shook her head and gave him the fakest smile she’d ever given anyone, ignoring the burning feeling behind her eyes. 

(Deep breath. Deep, deep, deep breath.)

She turned and half walked, half ran down the hall and out the door, and she heard Mary hiss, "She's just like her mother was," and she burst into hiccuping sobs before leaving, shutting the door and wishing, more than ever, that she could turn back time and prevent the stupid pregnancy from ever happening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> follow vcrchiedale and read my other one shot plsss!


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Veronica reconnects with Hiram.

‘can i meet you at pop’s please? i need to see you’

For the past three hours, Veronica had been glancing at her phone frantically for any new notifications after the spur-of-the-moment text she’d sent her father finally went through. Part of her regretted clicking send, but the stronger, better part of her knew it was for the best. Ronnie needed to see her father; a part of her would always remain broken if she didn’t.

Truthfully, she’d always been closer to her father. Hermione was always cold, focusing more on other, better parts of her life than Veronica. And Veronica knew there was no chance in hell Hermione would ever meet with her, but she knew her father would. He definitely would.

Two weeks had passed after her encounter with Mary. Every muscle in her body still ached when she thought of it - getting halfway to Cheryl’s before Archie pulled up in his car, telling her to get in, and he hugged her so tightly despite her being completely soaked. Fred texted Ronnie and said Mary had apologized, and Veronica told him to tell her that Ronnie, of course, forgave her. Which was true. She had to - it was Archie’s mother. But she’d been walking to school when she’d seen Mary driving down the street, and the glare that Archie’s mom gave her made Veronica disbelieve Fred’s text, just a bit.

The absence of any sort of parental figure in her life - except Fred - made the constant aching to see her father grow more and more. Hiram hadn’t replied to her message, yet, and Veronica wondered if he had told Hermione, and her parents were laughing at Ronnie’s feeble attempts to reconnect. But Ronnie knew, deep down, that Hiram would reply. Surely he’d want to be a part of his granddaughter’s life, just as Fred did. Surely Hiram, in some ways, was like Fred Andrews. 

Veronica sat on the toilet seat after her shower, her hair and torso wrapped in a towel. She flicked through her Instagram, liking occasional photos, foot tapping against the tile. Archie was home sick, and she’d gone over earlier that day to both check on him and see if Mary had left. He informed her that Mary left two days after Ronnie’s visit. She was secretly relieved, though she’d never tell Archie that.

She set her phone down on the counter and stood, unwrapping her hair from the towel and picking up a comb, beginning to run it through her dark locks. It was tangled, of course, and Veronica sighed dramatically before opening up the mirror and searching for detangler. While she was doing that, her phone vibrated, and, for the first time in the past three hours, she didn’t rush to look at it. Obviously it wasn’t her father texting, she’d learned after the disappointment of the last one hundred hopeful glances at her notifications.

When she had found the detangler and squirted a bit onto her hands, beginning to coat her hair with it, she glanced at her now-dark phone screen. Wiping her hands on the towel wrapped around her body, she picked up her phone, pressed the home button, and read the text she’d gotten.

‘Meet me at Pop’s in twenty minutes.’

Her father. Her mouth dropped, and then she set her phone back on the counter before tearing out her makeup, applying a full face in nearly record time before racing to her room to get dressed, put on shoes, do her hair, and leave.

~

She entered Pop’s with her bag on her arm and her phone in her hand. Veronica’s eyes scanned through the booths at the diner, hoping beyond hope she’d see her father, but she’d evidently arrived before him. Ronnie walked down the row of booths and slid into one, her back facing the door, hoping her father would show up. Because - after all - what if this was a huge scam? Veronica tried to tell herself that her father was better than that, but - as if on purpose - her head throbbed suddenly and reminded her of the fact that he’d given her a concussion, some five months before.

The doors to the diner opened - a fact Veronica only knew form the telltale jingling of the bells. She turned around and found herself meeting the eyes of her father, and her palms began to sweat of their own accord. Ronnie had to swallow the lump in her throat as she stood, and Hiram walked over to the booth and hugged her, and she hugged back, of course. After so long, this was the only thing she wanted. Her father to hug her - to love her, or to just appreciate her and want to be apart of her life again. 

“Hi - uh, hi, daddy.” Veronica cleared her throat when they pulled apart, and he sat across from her and she resumed her position in her seat.

“Veronica. Hi.” It struck her how professional he seemed, even now. She drummed her nails against the table, and he continued, “I’m sorry - about - you know - “

“Beating up my boyfriend and giving me a concussion?” Veronica arched one eyebrow, and Hiram glanced away, his face tightening. 

There was a moment before he spoke again, and Veronica imagined what would happen if he stood and left right now. If he told her she was too disrespectful for him to ever want to communicate with her again, and she was about to speak again before he said, “I didn’t know I gave you a concussion.”

She nodded, pushing her hair behind her ear. Every movement she made seemed like it was being criticized by him, though she knew that wasn’t true. He chose to come here with her. He hugged her, fatherly and loving, the kind of hug she’d seldom received from him before. That meant he wanted to see her, to some extent. “When you knocked over the couch, yeah.” Veronica wondered, briefly, what she had expected to discuss with him when she sent the message. She tried to channel the Veronica from three hours ago, to recall what had been going through her mind. “Don’t worry about it. I’m just glad to be here. Really.”

He smiled at her, and Veronica smiled back, and they sat in silence for a moment while Veronica basked in the look he’d given her. She’d never been more nervous - or maybe she had. She’d done a lot in the past few months that would have scared her to bits a year ago. She’d fought many demons, as dramatic as that sounded. 

“Veronica, I’m - I just - “ for the first time, Hiram Lodge tripped over his words. She nodded, egging him on silently, and he finally said, “I’m sorry that we kicked you out, mija. I’ve missed you so much.”

“I missed you too, daddy. And - “ she took a breath, and she didn’t meet his eyes, “maybe you could be a part of my life again. And the baby’s life - when she’s born. You and - and mom, maybe?” He took a moment too long to respond, and Veronica quickly added, “Or - or maybe just you, if mom isn’t - “

“Veronica, as much as I appreciate the offer, I doubt your mother would ever want to be in your life again. She was so angry, mija, and she said some awful things about never wanting to see you again.”

Every emotion she’d been feeling - the deep rooted sadness that had been growing in her stomach along with the baby - suddenly came up, and Veronica dropped her eyes to the table as a single tear leaked down her cheek. “So - uh - this is a one time thing, then. After this, you won’t see me again? Is that what this means?”

In his voice, Ronnie can nearly hear his expression. Brows furrowed, face blatantly confused. “No, your mother won’t see you. But I can’t keep blocking you out, Veronica. I miss you, so much. I miss my little girl.”

“But mom - “

“What your mother doesn’t know won’t hurt her, and she doesn’t have control over whether I see you or not. Please don’t cry, Veronica.”

Veronica has never cried in front of her father before.

As a child, he used to laugh that she was the strongest child he knew. When she fell off her bike on the sidewalk and scraped her knee so bad it started to bleed, she continued to ride home, fighting back the tears, and, at home, Hiram patched up the miniature wound and then commented how strong she was. When Veronica’s first real boyfriend broke up with her, she didn’t cry when Hiram asked why she looked sad. 

This was a first. Hiram had never had to deal with Veronica crying before.

She wiped under her eye, and when she looked at her wrist she saw a smudge of black, and that made her wanna throw herself out of a window.  
“Veronica, will you look at me?”

Veronica took both of her wrists and wiped beneath her eyes, praying to whatever God was above that she wouldn’t have smears beneath her eyes. When she did glance up at him, he didn’t show the slightest look of disgust or shock, so she figured she was fine. “Dad - “

He held up a finger and she quieted immediately. “I would never let anything jeopardize my relationship with my daughter. Not your mother, not Archie, not your baby.” He paused, and Veronica turned in her seat, glancing at the door though no one had come through. Inwardly she supposed she was scared Hermione would come and see her, but even so.

“Daddy, listen.” Veronica leaned forward, resting her palms on the cool table. “You need to do one thing, okay? You need to accept Archie.” she paused and Hiram sighed audibly. She rolled her eyes and then said, “I love him, dad. And he loves me. Shouldn’t that be enough for you to approve of him? He’s the father of this baby, after all. So no more digs at him, no more disapproving of him, no more forbidding him from seeing me. Got it?” She eyed him, and he hesitated before nodding.

“Okay, Veronica. I got it. But if he hurts you, I swear - “

“Dad!”

Hiram sighed again, and she narrowed her eyes at him. “Okay, Veronica. Okay.” A beat passed, and Veronica felt the weight in her stomach lift slowly as she stared at her father - some new part of him, one she’d never seen before. He was caring, now, and he genuinely wanted to be apart of her life and, God, she had never been so overjoyed. “I love you.”

She smiled, cheeks nearly hurting from having the same facial expression all afternoon. “I love you too, daddy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hiram is a really hard character to write lol i completely butchered him but whatever! i like hiram over hermione and i feel like he'd be more open to making amends with ronnie.


End file.
